Dear Author » Nalini-Singh

What Janine is Reading in February and March 2012

Janine — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:00:25 +0000

I was really, really lucky in my choices of reading material in February and early March. Five of the nine books I read between the beginning of February and the first day of spring have been books I would grade at B+ or above, which means that they’re recommended (by me) reads. It made me wonder if I’m failing my readership by not being selective enough, but the thing is, I honestly feel those five books have been that good.

The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh

This is one of Balogh’s most beloved traditional regencies, up there with The Notorious Rake as far as being many Balogh readers’ favorite Balogh. It was recently reissued in a 2-in-1 edition with A Promise of Spring and I took the time to reread and review it. I found that it was even more enjoyable the second time around. What I love about it is the transformation of the hero (and his relatives) from joylessness to joy. Grade: B+/A-

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A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh

This one, on the other hand, was a disappointment. It started out wonderfully, as a sweet and tender older woman/younger man romance. The heroine had lost a child who happened to be illegitimate in her youth, and the hero’s total acceptance of her was so romantic. If only the book hadn’t gone downhill from there, with kitchen sink plotting, rushed resolutions, and contrivances that made both characters (but especially the hero) seem stupid or inconsistent. Review here. Grade: C-

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Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

I’m so glad this urban fantasy/police procedural was recommended to me. Its hero, Peter Grant, is a new London Metropolitan Police constable who discovers that he has some paranormal abilities. Under the tutelage of an older (who knows how much older?) police inspector/wizard, Peter learns to cast spells and pursues a dangerous supernatural villain who threatens those close to him. Witty, snarky, and immensely entertaining. Review here. Grade: B+

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Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

What a blast I had reading this book. It wasn’t perfect by any means but I was grateful to discover that even three books and one novella into the Alpha and Omega series, my love for Charles and Anna has not faded. I especially loved seeing how strong Anna has grown. Her cleverness shines in this book. I didn’t love the way Charles’ conflict was resolved, but there is something so tender about their relationship, especially considering they are up against violence their own monstrous nature, and I find that so touching. Here’s Josephine’s review. My grade: B+/A-

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

My husband and I recently finished reading this YA fantasy which Jia reviewed a while back (the book was also in DABWAHA). A mystery wrapped in a roller coaster ride, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is poetic and romantic. The more time goes on, the more the book stays with me. I think it’s the kind of novel that can be reread as soon as one finishes it because once the secret at its center is uncovered, it casts the whole book in a new light. I love books that do that. Oh, what the heck. I think I’ll grade this one A-.

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Confessions from an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville

This book took a while to really grab me, but once it took off, it became a very emotional story. We recently had a guest post on heroines and shame, but in this book, it’s the hero who carries a shameful secret, one that causes him to pretend an indifference that he does not feel. The journey Blake and his new bride, Minerva, undergo, is bumpy to say the least, but it leads them both to grow into people who can understand and accept one another, and that’s a big part of what love is about. Review here. Grade: B+

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Thunder and Roses by Mary Jo Putney

I saw that Putney’s classic Fallen Angels series has been reissued electronically and since once upon a time it was a favorite series of mine, I decided to revisit it. I’m currently rereading this, book one in the series, and so far, it’s not holding up to my memories of it. It’s never been one of my most favorite Putneys but now I find I have mixed feelings about both the hero and the heroine, as well as their central values conflict over whether sex outside marriage is wrong (her view) or natural and desirable (his) . I still love the strip billiards scene but it isn’t enough to make up for the other problems. Review here. Grade: D

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A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness

This was another one I read with my husband. It’s a fantasy about a thirteen year old boy whose mother has cancer. One night a monster comes to visit Conor, and as these visitations continue, the monster tells him stories and insists Conor will have to repay in kind, by telling the true story that terrifies him. The book was inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, who died of cancer herself before she could write it. This made me feel Scrooge-like for being underwhelmed. My review can be found here. Grade: C+

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Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Book #11 in the Psy/Changeling series won’t be out until May 29 but I read the ARC in March in preparation for a joint review Jennie and I have in the works. There are developments on several fronts here, but the central romance is that of Adria (Indigo’s young aunt) and Riaz, both wounded souls. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Riaz’s wolf has already recognized its mate, and it isn’t Adria. While this wasn’t one of my top favorites in the series, I did very much appreciate that it dared to explore some tough questions about the nature of the mating bond. Joint review with Jennie to come.

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What about you? What have you been reading lately? Have you read any of the books I mention above and if so, what did you think of them? And are you on a hot streak or in a reading slump?

Is there room on the internet for authorial interaction?

Jane — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:38 +0000

For many years, we’ve preached that review are for readers and they are. Oftentimes, when authors react to reviews, it results in an unfortunate dustup with authors saying things they wished they hadn’t and readers throwing out threats of a ban list. The comment threads to a review can be contentious whether it is here at Dear Author or at places like Goodreads and Amazon.

But there are times when authorial interaction might actually produce interesting discussion. After I reviewed “Lord of the Abyss,” I wrote a note to Nalini Singh and Singh wrote me back* and said that she wanted to share with me why she turned Liliana beautiful at the end, an ending that I complained about:

I did consider not having that fairytale makeover, because like you said, Micah didn’t care. The thing was, I couldn’t do it to Liliana, herself because it hurt her so much when people were cruel to her, or said nasty things like in the village. The thought of her living her entire life having to bear those slights (and the reality is, people still would’ve said them and they still would’ve hurt, even if only a tiny bit each time since she would’ve had Micah’s unwavering love in contrast) – yeah, I just couldn’t. And since it was a fairytale, I did get to play fairy godmother.

I responded:

You know, your comment is one that I think would be interesting to readers, if you would be willing to post it. I’m not sure how I feel. It’s true that I wouldn’t want Liliana to be hurt constantly by the shunning of others, but I loved the idea of a truly ugly heroine. It’s amazing how none of that really matters when you are in the meat of the story.

Nalini’s response:

As for the Liliana comment, I don’t know. I always wonder if author intention should have any place in a reader’s experience. I’ve always liked the idea that each reader reads a different book, dependent on what personal ideas/life experiences they bring into the story. It’s an interesting thing to think about, especially now, with authors so accessible via the web.

This got me thinking. Jeannie Lin’s response about the ending of her book was posted on her website. I thought her explanation of the Eastern philosophy that drove her story was interesting. It didn’t change how I felt about the book but I enjoyed reading it and contemplating her perspective.

Both the Singh and the Lin comments were ones I would have liked to have discussed with other readers. These might be appropriately questions at the end of the book that could be asked for a reader group (those are sometimes included in trade paperback books).

I emailed Caitlin Crews to see if she would like to write up some thoughts about Shame and Heroines in romance and mentioned that I found that Jake, the hero in “Heiress Behind the Headlines,” hadn’t suffered enough for all the horrible things he said to Larissa, the heroine. She gave me a really interesting response:

I’m really interested in your take on Jack. I was worried that many readers would not find Larissa at all sympathetic (and indeed many do not) and so in some ways I suppose I saw Jack as a kind of mouthpiece for what I anticipated those readers might feel about her. I also thought that his public acceptance of her at the end would be more meaningful to *her* than any sort of extended grovel might be, as I imagined she wouldn’t necessarily believe that. My understanding from some of the feedback I’ve gotten so far is that some readers just hated her as I worried they might, and those readers seem to think Jack could have done much better. I guess I was trying to strike a balance between those two takes on the story; it’s always so fascinating to hear how/if that kind of thing worked!

But author interaction can result in two things, no matter the intention of the author, both which are detrimental to reader conversation. First, an authorial inerjection can reduce reader commentary. Meljean Brook shared:

I think there’s room for author interaction in the comments of a review, but it’s very limited room. In general — unless the reviewer has notified the author directly about the presence of a review and invites a reply — I think that it’s best not to comment at all. We all know that many authors are online, seeking reviews of their work and looking in on discussions; there’s no need to tap the readers on the shoulder and say, “Hey, I’m here,” because it’s likely to have a chilling effect…and for good or bad, the best thing for an author is for readers to talk about her book. Why shut that down?

The other thing that can occur is for readers to mistake the intention of the author or interpret the author’s intention exactly right and either results in a kerfluffle. Another author emailed me this response:

Explaining a book in the comment section may invite discussion, but it seems argumentative to me. A reader has the right to their opinion of the book, no matter what that opinion is. If an author thinks their book is A and the reader thinks it’s B, no matter how much the author argues the point, it’s very rare the reader is going to change their mind–they’re always going to think it’s B. It’s the reader’s experience that matters. That’s their takeaway and no amount of explaining on the author’s part is going to change that. The only additional takeaway the reader will receive is a bad view of the author, which is never a good thing, in my opinion.

Another author shared that it was frustrating to read in a review what the author’s intention was when writing. It’s one thing for a reader to say that it came off as if an author meant it X, Y, or Z and another for a reader to speak as if she is an authority on the author’s intent:

I’ll be honest, it really pisses me off when readers speak with “authority” on what my intent as an author is. They can think what they want. They can speculate to their hearts content. But don’t go around saying that Author thought this or Author did that… And any time a reader claims to KNOW what an author meant or what she was “really” doing, they just make themselves look like an ignorant.

Almost universally, the authors I emailed on this topic felt that comments to reviews are simply not a place for authors to interject their opinions. I know that at DA, if an author comes in during a discussion and I sense that it might reduce reader discussion, I’ll make a comment to try to encourage readers to discuss the book, as if the author is not there.

One author said that the only time she felt is was appropriate to comment publicly with readers is when the author is invited, such as to a Book Chat. Most authors echoed this

“In my experience, when readers really want to hear from an author, they’ll e-mail her.”

I admit that I rarely email authors at all mostly because I feel, maybe wrongly, that most authors really don’t want to hear from anyone with dearauthor.com in the email address. I don’t know whom I’ve offended with strongly worded reviews and I don’t want any one to feel like they need to be nice or gracious to me if I’ve hurt their feelings. To that end, there are often questions that arise from a book for which I have no answer.

I’m curious what readers and authors would like to see. Do they want more authorial interaction? Do they like that the conversation is primarily between readers of the book or potential readers of the book? Are they interested in hearing the author’s perspective?

*All emails reproduced with the consent of the sender.

REVIEW: Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh

Jane — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:00:38 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh:

This is the fourth book in a connected series with the three other stories written by three other authors. I haven’t read the other three and I don’t feel like my reading experience was impaired in any way. The prologue lays the table. A long lived people leaved peacefully and prosperously in the land of Elden until they were attacked by a Blood Sorcerer. In a last ditch effort to save her children, the Queen of Elden cast a spell to fling her children far away from Elden so that they would survive and come to reclaim their birthrights.

Micah, the youngest, became the Guardian of the Abyss, Lord of the Black Castle, and within his castle sits the gateway to the Abyss, “where the servants of evil were banished after death to suffer eternal torment at the hands of the basilisks and the serpents, and he was the guardian of that terrible place.” He was encased in a full armor of impenetrable black and there were razors over his knuckles and bladed claws at the ends of his fingers.

Liliana is the daughter of the Blood Sorcerer. She has been practicing her own magic, secretly, as she is viewed as a disgusting failure by her father. She is working to defeat her father and the prophecy requires the return of all four of the heirs of the Elden kingdom. Micah, however, has not been found until now. Her magic brings her to the feet of the Lord of the Black Castle whereupon she is whisked off to the dungeons.

Micah has no memory of Elden but Liliana intrigues him. There has never been an intruder in the Black Castle and while her appearance is not “prepossessing”, she looks him in the eye which no one ever has the courage to do. What’s even more remarkable is that Liliana is truly a different looking heroine:

She was…mismatched, he thought. Though her skin was a smooth golden brown that reminded him of honey from the redblossom tree, her eyes were tiny dots a peculiar sort of nowhere color and her mouth much too big, her hooked nose overwhelming every other feature. Her hair stuck out in a stiff mass akin to the straw in the stables, and she limped when she walked, as if one leg was shorter than the other.

A hook nosed, tiny eyed, big mouthed, limping heroine? Later it is further revealed that her breasts are tiny and her butt is huge not to mention one leg being smaller than the other. Matched with a hero that looks like a god? I’m all in. And the story doesn’t disappoint.

The Black Castle is full of misfits from the Brownie, Jissa, to the factotum, Bard, and it’s master, Micah.

“You will fit in very well here, yes, you will,” Jissa said with a sudden smile that gave her a quixotic charm.

“For he is the only creature of beauty, and even he turns into a monster.”

Micah has no memory of his past. He is only Guardian of the Abyss. Cleverly, Liliana gets a position as cook and uses delicacies from Elden to jog Micah’s memory, hoping that in doing so he will break the curse and return to Elden in time to fulfill the prophecy and defeat the Blood Sorcerer. Her cooking leads to stories of Elden.

Liliana may be ugly and Micah may be beautiful but they are both lonely and unhappy. Micah lives the next day just as he did the last, surrounded by a few loyal servants and spending the night hunting the worst kind of souls and hurtling them into the Abyss. As the Guardian of the Abyss, Micah feels dirty and ugly as well. Liliana has spent her days avoiding her father whenever she could, learning to avoid shows of affection for anything from animals to people as her father always used those as weapons against her.

They grow to love each other. It matters not what Liliana looks like or how Micah has no experience with women. Together, these two fit each other in a carefully constructed romance in a shorter space (category length). For those readers who have found a Singh hero a bit too alpha for their taste, I think this would be a better fit. Micah’s sexual awakening is sweet infused with the trademark Singh heat.

The ending, however, was a huge disappointment. I believe someone told me that Lord of the Abyss is suppposed to be a fairy tale (or fairy tale like). Viewed through this lense, I suppose the ending made sense but I was ultimately disappointed because I felt it was unnecessary and would have been unconventional and fresh not to have chosen the ending that was included. It diminished my pleasure in the story and I felt that after having so much of the book moving outside the boundaries, this just dragged me squarely back into romance central. B

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: Angels of Darkness by Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, Sharon Shinn, and Nalini Singh

Jaclyn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:32:30 +0000

Dear Mss. Andrews, Brook, Shinn, and Singh,

Are angels the new vampires in romance novels? It seems like the number of books starring angels continues to expand exponentially. When choosing to write about angels (or winged beings, in the case of the Guardians), authors invite introspection from readers about the nature of good and evil and the balance of power.

Vampires are predators and humans their prey. When pairing a vampire and human in a romance the power imbalance that writes must address is one of prey and predator. With angels the power imbalance is fundamentally different. Angels inspire awe but their otherness isn’t necessarily predatory so much as inhuman and powerful. An angel-human relationship isn’t about resolving the prey-predator dynamic but rather about protector and powerless. Angels are a like Knight-protectors (though without the horse and armor) and they are often portrayed as protectors of humanity (think guardian angel, the arch angel protector of women and children, etc.). How does this affect how we approach books starring these mysterious not-human beings?

These were the thoughts swirling in my head as I picked up the ARC of Angels of Darkness. I had read books and short stories by Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Nalini Singh; Sharon Shinn was a new-to-me writer.

Angel’s Wolf by Nalini Singh

The anthology opens with Nalini Singh’s story, Angel’s Wolf set the world of Raphael and Elena where all-powerful angels rule the world, create vampires to serve them, and humans live their brief lives much like we do. The angel Nimra serves Raphael and oversees New Orleans and its environs. Noel, a vampire recently healed from vicious attack that left him as little more than pulped flesh, is sent by Raphael to work for her. In Singh’s world angels are cold, uncanny beings of power beyond the comprehension of most humans.

Nimra is the most interesting angel I’ve encountered in Singh’s world. She has a horrific power that can take the violence and badness inside of a person and morph it into that individual’s own suffering and anguish. The meaner you are, the more Nimra can hurt you, which means the most powerful angels—all of whom commit acts of violence, have the most to fear from her. But Nimra herself isn’t mean-spirited or vengeful. Underneath her powerful crust she has a deep compassion which is seen through her love of her pet cats and her affection for her elderly human steward, Fen.

Throughout the story Nimra and Noel are on opposite trajectories. Nimra is slowly revealed to the reader as kinder and more compassionate than her merciless reputation and Noel is revealed as more powerful and capable than his broken victim status. They arrive at an equilibrium where Nimra remains the feared ruler of this territory and Noel rises to become her fear-inducing enforcer.

Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews’ story, Alphas: Origins is set in the world of the Alphas. This was my first foray into this world that feels post-apocalyptic though it’s not. This is an alien story. Or more accurately, we are all subspecies created by aliens and left to battle until only one remains. At least I think that’s what going on. Most of the story is set in a parallel dimension that has portals into our dimension. I read this Alphas slowly and closely because the world is very complex and I kept trying sort out if I’d missed something. A lot of the time I did not understand what was going on. I was at least as clue-less as the heroine and this confusion created an empathy with her character. (Since finishing the story I’ve wondered if this was a deliberate construct by Ms. Andrews.)

So here’s what I think I know about the story: there is a battle between two factions of mixed subspecies. The “good” side—the one with our hero and heroine—are fighting to get to another dimension in their world while the other faction is trying to kill them. Some beings have more power than others, and fighting, pain, and death are commonplace.

I wouldn’t really call this story a romance. The “hero”, Lucas, is a shifter who turns into a fur covered monster that needs to drink Karina’s blood. Karina is a human who has some genetic link to the original subspecies making her blood food to fuel the hero

I find Ms. Andrews’ world building intriguing, but this such a complex world to introduce in a short story and I became focused on trying to piece together the world-building which distracted me from the character development. The romance, such as it is between Lucas and Katrina isn’t very romantic. They come together out of mutual need—he for her blood, she for her life—and an emotional bond begins to develop. But it the bond stems from the Katrina’s lack of other options—did I mention the leader of Lucas’ faction is holding Katrina’s daughter hostage? I would like to read more about this Alpha world, but as a stand-alone story this one was a tough read.

I should add that when I first saw this anthology was coming and that it was about angels, I hoped that Ms. Andrews was going to write a story about Thanatos, the angel in the Kate Daniels series. I was a disappointed when I found out this wasn’t a story about him and this may have contributed to my dissatisfaction with this story—I wanted one thing and got another.

Nocturne by Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn’s story, Nocturne, is set in the world of the Samaria series. This is a story of redemption, forgiveness and hope. Moriah has been running from events in her past and the angel Corban is mired in depression and refuses to face his future after an accident blinded him.

Moriah is abrasive and canny, hardened by a tough life and hiding from events in her past. It’s her skeptical attitude and lack of awe for angels that are what Corban needs to shake off the mantel of depression and hopelessness that cling to him two years after his accident. In each other they each find their paths to redemption and the hope for a happy future.

This story is told in the first person and it took me a while to begin to appreciate Moriah; during the first half of Nocturne I had to force myself to keep reading. Shinn peaked my curiosity about the monster (Corban) in the forbidden house, but that was the only thing that kept me reading. I wonder if readers of the Samaria series will feel differently. Would knowing this world have made the story more compelling to me from the start? I’m glad I finished it, but I don’t know if I’ll seek out the other Samaria books.

Ascension by Meljean Brook

Meljean Brook’s story, Ascension, is set in her Guardian world. Marc is a Guardian trying to identify and remove a demon who is spreading malice and discontent in his territory. Radha a fellow Guardian and Marc’s former lover, has arrived under the pretense of taking a vacation and offers to help Marc in his search.

As they investigate several murders and follow the trail of clues they rehash their past. More than 100 years ago, while in Guardian training, Marc took a vow of celibacy, but he couldn’t resist his powerful attraction to Radha and he broke that vow. She heard him beg God for forgiveness for sleeping with an unclean woman and took offense (Imagine getting out of bed after a hot and steamy night and finding your partner praying for fornicating with your slutty self. Ugh.).

I think Ms. Brook is a particularly fine short story writer. She deftly delivers subtle character development and emotional arc while weaving the investigative elements that reveal, layer by layer, information about the town and its inhabitants. The evil in this story was sown by a demon, but it was enacted by humans. I found the happy ending to the romance was more poignant after learning the identity of the murderer. The years lost between Marc and Radha as they each battled their inner demons were reflected in the choices of the murder. All of them made choices that led to unhappiness. Marc and Radha got a chance at redemption (and love) all these years later. Who knows, maybe the murder will receive the same, in time.

Each story in this anthology complicated my ideas about angels and reinforced my belief that good and evil are on a continuum with no clear lines demarking where you are on that continuum. As philosophical ideas I found each story offered something compelling; as entertainment I found the stories uneven and on that basis I give the collection a B-.

Cheers,

Jaclyn

What Jaclyn Is Reading, September 2011

Jaclyn — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:00:56 +0000

I read a lot in September, like holy-guacamole a lot. There is a letterpress broad side on the wall of my office with a quote from Erasmus that reads, “When I get a little money I buy BOOKS; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” I think Erasmus and I would have understood one another. I wonder if he would have enjoyed reading romances?

Curio by Cara McKenna. Over in Twitter-land Ms. McKenna’s story, Willing Victim, was much discussed earlier in the year. Since I read it last December I’ve gone on to read about two-thirds of Ms. McKenna’s backlist. There’s something that I find so compelling about her books, even when I don’t really like the stories themselves. When I read Skin Game, which I did not like—it read like a series of character sketches set amidst a weird Survivor-like game—I finally understood that Ms. McKenna writes her characters with so much compassion and clarity; she treats them with respect and they shine regardless of what’s going on in the story. Back to Curio. Didier is a former model turned prostitute who is patronized by Caroly, a 29-year-old virgin who wishes to finally have sex. The story is told over five encounters as they begin to form a friendship and become lovers. Ms. McKenna is masterful at using the sexual encounters of her characters to further the emotional drama she’s woven and I continue to be utterly compelled by her books. Curio has a hope filled HEA and I was charmed.

Summons: A Goblin King Prequel by Shona Husk. The pissy reviews on Amazon made me want to read this. A couple readers were bugged that this is essentially a short lead in—more like a prologue—to the book, Goblin King. I find these little shorts are a great way to sample if I like the characters and the author’s writing style. I’m glad I read this before reading Goblin King because the start of that book made more sense for having read this.

Goblin King by Shona Husk. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Goblin King features and heiress trying to escape her abusive, black-mailing, cheating boyfriend and some sort of Celtic warrior cursed by a Druid. I generally like these stories where the heroine grows a pair and tells her abusive boyfriend where to stick it before finding love with a decent guy. The story wanders in places which led me to skim read from time to time and the police were very sympathetic to the heroine despite the evidence that has been used to blackmail her for a couple of years. Basically some of the plot points are too convenient. But the love story is sweet and the angst lasts until the final five pages.

Taken by the Cowboy by Julianne MacLean. Oh time travel, you offer so many opportunities for wacky stories. Heroine is in car accident, flung back in time, mistaken for a gun-slinging badass, meets a fellow time-traveler, falls for the Sherriff (and vice versa), is accused of murder, and wants to find a way to get back home. Some of the events are too convenient; for instance, she meets a fellow time-traveler who just happens to be the attorney she demands after being jailed? Really? Uh-huh. At times I just wasn’t compelled to keep reading and I picked up a couple other books while meandering through this one, but I did finish it and found the ending bittersweet. I’d be curious if others who’ve read this also read Jude Deveraux’s Knight in Shining Armor and what you thought of the endings in comparison to one another. I hate with stabby-eye-rays-of-death the ending of KISA; Taken by the Cowboy doesn’t evoke that sort of strong hateration but like KISA, it’s tinged with sadness.

Bound to the Prince by Deborah Court. Ms. Court emailed Dear Author asking if anyone wanted to review her book. I like fae stories so I bought a copy and started reading. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this book and just not sure if I’m going to continue. The heroine is a doormat and the story is bloated. I kept thinking it needed a ruthless substantive edit to remove extraneous scenes that probably don’t feel extraneous to the author but bogged down the pace and caused my attention to wander. There’s something not bad buried in here, but I’m just not sure it’s worth the time of skimming through the bloat to find it. DNF for now.

Future Tense by Carolyn Jewel. I’m a glom reader for the My Immortals series. I like that demons are the “good” guys, it fits my philosophy that in life there’s often no clear demarcation between good and bad, we’re all constantly moving on the gray spectrum; sometimes we’re better or worse than others. One of the things about paranormals in general that I like (and in sf and fantasy, too) is the mythology that comes with the world-building. What these people believe in fascinates me. I hope Lys, the heroine, shows up in future books, I’d like to see what happens with her witchy power of connecting to the future—the ending of this short story left me with a lot of questions.

Good Girls Don’t by Victoria Dahl. Ms. Dahl shatters my heart with pretty much every book, and she does it while delivering humor, insight, drama, and love. Tessa and Luke both have Issues. Their lives collide when Tessa’s family business is vandalized and police detective Luke is sent to investigate. Tessa’s manic drive to keep her family together was emotionally wrenching. I felt her fear and despair when she thought it was all unraveling around her.

Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl. I often hear women say ‘it’s the quiet ones you need to watch out for’, but Jamie Donovan proves that the smooth, easy-going, laughing ones might have hidden depths, too, if you bother to look. Olivia is a woman finally breaking out of the mold created by her parents, and then her controlling husband. Watching a shy/repressed/timid lady evolve into a woman of confidence (whether it’s quiet or brash confidence) is something I like best about romance novels.

To Tempt a Scotsman by Victoria Dahl Yeah, so I maybe glommed on Ms. Dahl’s books in September. Lucky me. J I hated the hero for a good part of this book. What a dumbass. The heroine is a woman of intelligence and courage and she deserves better than she got from all the men in her life; it all worked out in the end and as long as the hero doesn’t revert to his dumbassery then I’m happy for the heroine to get her HEA with her hero. But by God he had better spend the rest of their lives proving he’s worthy of her. Humph.

I froth at the mouth waiting for the next time I can have my heart smashed to pieces and put back together by Victoria Dahl. I’m already getting a little manic for Real Men Will. Only a couple weeks to go. Alas.

Trouble in Paradise by Susan Connell. I came across this book while scrolling through page after page of books online. It’s a breezy, entertaining, sexy story set in a Central American rainforest. I enjoyed it but I never became wrapped up or emotionally invested in the characters.

Silver Shark (Kinsmen Series) by Ilona Andrews. I’m fascinated with this world Ms. Andrews has imagined. The characters are part of a rare group of humans known as psychers—they live as much in a mental world (accessed through technology, I imagine sort of like in the Matrix) as they do in the physical world. Claire, the heroine, is hiding her true identity and enormous power in the wake of a war that her side lost. When she’s transported to another planet she continues to hide for fear that she’d be deported or executed if discovered. She’s hired by Venturo as his secretary and events conspire to reveal Claire’s true identity leaving Venturo with a dilemma about what to do with Claire. I hope there are more Kinsmen books coming.

When in Rio by Delphine Dryden. Jack and Katie work together, in fact, he’s her boss. And on a business trip to Rio he becomes her Dom, though Jack is mostly into the D/s thing for the spanking. If we set aside the problem of doing the horizontal mambo with your boss, then this is a satisfying emotional story about two people who’ve grown to respect and admire one another over two years of close association and have decided to add sex and emotional intimacy to their relationship. At the end, when their fledgling couple hood is tested by Jack’s past I found myself irritated by the assumptions Katie made and the very easy resolution to the misunderstanding. But overall this was a good story about friends becoming (kinky) lovers. (Reviewed by Jane here)

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh. Janine has already reviewed this for Dear Author. I bring it up only because the more time passes since I’ve read this book the more dissatisfied I become with the truth about Honor’s identity and Dmitri’s evolution through the story. The violence is staggering and I just don’t see how the woman Honor is today and the woman she once was meld into a unified whole. At the same time I don’t know if I believe that Dmitri loves Honor—that is, the woman she is today. I might need to read this again; certainly I can’t stop thinking about it.

Angels of Darkness by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn. I’m writing a review of this for Dear Author.

Believe it or not, dear readers, there are more, but this is probably more than enough for this post, yes? Have you read any of these? Did you like/dislike them? I hope someone has read Curio and will tell me if they found Didier and Caroly as compelling as I did.

Happy reading,

Jaclyn

What Jane’s Been Reading, week ending September 15

Jane — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 17:00:06 +0000

Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh. This is a December release. It’s a full fledged fairy tale with an ugly heroine (described as having a hook nose, walks with a limp, and a misshapen body) and a somewhat virginal hero. He’s been Lord of the Abyss for as long as he can remember and has had no woman in that time. I read no other books in the series and wasn’t lost at all. I was disappointed in a reveal at the end and that marred my enjoyment of the overall story. Full review to come in late November.

Ravenborne by Chandra Ryan. This is an alternate reality paranormal romance which had intriguing world building but suffered from either a lack of focus or an attempt to shoehorn too much into one story. I did go and buy a second story in this series which predates “Ravenborne” but have not yet read it. The story opens with a scene in which a dragon shifter on the losing side of a war but with much power is condemned to live a number of lives before she can be free of her servitude. She is called the Oracle because of her ability to foretell the future and to measure the power of others. Magic flows through some families and it is the strength of magic that determines the rulers of the kingdom. Saraphina Raven is conscripted into the king’s guard because he wants her to use her telepathic ability to suss out those that might be plotting against him. Kavin Hunter, the head of the king’s guard, and old friend of Saraphina is ordered to bring her to the castle. The journey is beset with challenges to Saraphina’s life, betrayal, and a growing but improper attraction. I liked the world and the concept but felt the romance was shoehorned in.

Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai. This is an erotic take on the Hades and Persephone story. Hades is a misunderstood lord of the underworld and Persephone is unclear of her power. They must be separated, per the myth and Rai colors in the reasons why. It’s a short story and a decent read, but doesn’t have much staying power for me.

Altered Destiny by Shawna Thomas. This is a high fantasy story set in a land where they use horses (middle earthian?) There are two basic types of folks: humans and Svistra. Svistra are bloodsuckers. They are great fighters but small in numbers. They had been hired by the human kings to fight in battle with them but given their predilection for blood, they are cast out and driven back to a northern, inhospitable climate. The Svistra, however, are tired of being outcasts and are mobilizing an army. Selia is a human that owns a tavern. She stumbles upon a wounded Svistra and nurses him back to health. Her world is upended by the coming war, the conscription of her adopted brother, and her growing feelings for the Svistra. The book kind of peters out toward the end because so much denouement is stuffed into the last two chapters. Full review to come.

Deadly Descent by Kaylea Cross. Years ago I read an article about these awesome female helicopter pilots and I thought it would be great if one of them were the basis of a romance heroine. “Deadly Descent” features a female soldier in the Army who pilots Black Hawks on extract missions. I thought the military parts were really well done in this book and I certainly felt like I was amidst the action. However, in reading articles about females in combat there has been a concern that the males in combat would be endangered by their own protective instincts toward the females and I felt that the story actually fed into that belief rather than combatting it and that was unfortunate. Full review to come but it is a book I would recommend with some provisions. Full review here.

Cover of Darkness by Kaylea Cross. After I had read “Deadly Descent”, I wanted to read another Cross romantic suspense book and I remembered that she had sent me a book for review last year. According to my gmail archives that book was “Cover of Darkness”. The good news is that Cross has really grown as an author. The bad news is that I had a hard time reading this one (and I suspect that is what happened when I first received the book for review) and ultimately I have to score this as a DNF for me. In the first chapter, the heroine is saved by a team of SEALs in the Middle East. She’s injured and placed in a military hospital along with a wounded SEAL. A medic on the SEAL team comes in and just lays a big fat sloppy kiss on her while she is recovering from her wounds and her father is elsewhere, likely dying. I wanted to put the story down right there, but given that I had liked Cross in the past, I thought I would give it more of an effort. Unfortunately, the story really didn’t improve for me. Instead, I met more testosterone who were obviously sequel bait and the insta lust between the two characters continued apace. I did skim through the book to find out what happened but I wasn’t interested in reading the rest of the series. I’ll wait for more Cross books from Carina Press.

The Crown Affair by Lucy King. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with this story. The hero wasn’t a huge asshole and the heroine wasn’t too much of a doormat, but I was never engaged by this couple. Neither had an interesting storyline and even though the story was about the heroine remaking herself from being passive to more aggressive, I never bought into that transformation.

Sex, Gossip and Rock and Roll by Nicola Marsh. This was an opposites attract story but the insta-lust between two people who didn’t like or trust each other was tiresome. Charli Chambers manages rock stars and other celebrities for a man who saved her from the streets. Luca Petrelli has been asked by the same man (and also his purported grandfather) to step in and manage the money for the tour of a rock star that Charli is managing. Both believe the other is ripping off the old man. I stopped reading after the fourth chapter. DNF.

The Kanellis Scandal by Michelle Reid. I love Reid’s books but this one was a big disappointment. Neither character was likeable. Anton Pallis lies and virtually kidnaps Zoe Ellis from her home when her parents die because she is the guardian of the heir to a fortune. Zoe’s father was the son of a wealthy Greek man who was disowned when he married against the wealthy man’s wishes. Now Zoe’s father is dead and the wealthy Greek man wants his heir and sends Anton to fetch the both of them. Zoe spends most of the book alternating between ripping Anton’s clothes off and insulting him greviously. She was 23? in the book but acted about 16. It was a chore to spend time with either character.

Doukakis’s Apprentice by Sarah Morgan. Sarah Wendell suggested I read this and it was as enjoyable as she suggested. Polly Prince’s company is taken over by Damon Doukakis who believes that everyone on the payroll, particularly Polly, are lazy and incompetent. The Prince company must have at least one creative talent, however, because it is stealing ad campaigns from the Doukakis firm. Damon knows it isn’t Polly though, who wears loud stockings to work, and allows her co workers to have plants on their desks. Of course, Polly is the creative genius behind the Prince firm and has been for a long time. I think someone at DA will review this next week. Full review.

Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis. Jade Bennett is only in Sunshine, Idaho, temporarily. She suffered something bad back in Chicago and she ran and ended up in Sunshine 18 months ago. She promised her family she would return after a certain time and her deadline is approaching. As the deadline is approaching, Dell, her boss, and Jade decide to embark on a temporary affair, mostly because Jade believes that Dell can’t make an attachment. This is something that is repeated throughout the story but the problem is that the declaration didn’t match the text. He was devoted to his brothers. He took in Lilah, a woman in town and treated her like his sister. He had a solid vet practice and had his own pets. Everything about him screamed permanency. So while I liked both characters, I felt that neither characterization was very authentic. What Shalvis told us we should believe wasn’t what she showed us.

Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis. After I kind of complained about “Animal Attraction” on Twitter, a bunch of readers told me to try Head Over Heels out. So I did and I liked it a ton better. The hero is Sheriff Sawyer Thompson who used to be a rotten teen and turned his life around. He’s all about permanence, stability, and up right citizenship. Unfortunately, the one woman in town that really turns his crank is Chloe Traeger, the youngest of the three sisters featured in the Lucky Harbor series, who is nicknamed the Wild Child. I hadn’t read any in the series before so I hadn’t any feelings toward Chloe one way or another. Apparently she is a pill in the previous books. In any event, I thought that there romance was quite sweet.

One huge problem for me was that Chloe didn’t want to change from being wild, coloring outside the lines, in order to be loved. Yet, in the end, she opted for a very conventional life with the sheriff, enforcing exactly what she struggled against. If the message was that you didn’t have to completely remake yourself to find true love, I felt that message wasn’t delivered in the end. That said, I loved both characters. Sawyer is the tall, silent type (and I love that type) who needed a person like Chloe in his life. You could really see in the text of the story that these two were a good pair, that they balanced each other. And Sawyer is a really loving guy. This is a late November release which I plan to review.

The Sweetest Thing by Jill Shalvis. I liked Head Over Heels enough to go and purchase The Sweetest Thing which I kind of regret because I saw that Forever is re-releasing the first two in the Lucky Harbor series as one volume for the price of $7.99. Curses. Anyway, I didn’t love it as much as The Sweetest Thing. Ford is an olympic medal winning sailor whose home base is Lucky Harbor. Tara is his teenage sweetheart. Their teen romance ended badly but their feelings for each other haven’t ever wholly died. Ford knows that Tara’s time in Lucky Harbor is temporary (does that remind you of any plot?) but pursues her avidly. Why? So that they could have casual sexy times. I didn’t really understand either characters’ motivations. Tara says she didn’t want to stick around in Lucky Harbor but I wasn’t shown that she had a good life away from there. She was presented as this woman who was so amazing that she had two awesome guys pursuing her. The best part of the story was the competition between Ford and Tara’s ex husband.

Season for Temptation by Theresa Romain. This came to my attention in a glowing post by Courtney Milan. I wrote the publicist immediately for a copy but even before I received a response, Ms. Romain kindly sent me a copy. It was a nice historical but not much agnst. Sarah Wendell calls these types of books “visiting” people and I think that is what it was. Admittedly I like more romangst in my historical romances. Full review to come in October.

Clearly I need to read more historical romances. Again.

REVIEW: Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh

Janine — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:00:03 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh,

Archangel’s Blade opens with a flashback in the vampire Dmitri’s POV, one that takes us back to Dmitri’s human life. In the flashback, dark, ruthless Dmitri is revealed to have once, a thousand years ago, been a loving and tender hearted man devoted to his two children and to his wife.

Smiling at his son’s joy, he looked up and saw her in the doorway. His wife. With their new daughter in her arms. His heart twisted into a knot that was almost painful.

Sometimes, he thought he should be ashamed to love his wife and children so much, until the days when he went away to the markets were a rare anguish…but he could not bring himself to believe it.

This picture of domestic bliss is almost shocking in contrast with the Dmitri we know from the three previous Guild Hunter books. As the Archangel Raphael’s second-in-command, Dmitri could not be more loyal – and ruthlessly cold. He is said to love no one, and to like his pleasure twined with pain.

Though she has never met Dmitri, Guild Hunter and ancient languages expert Honor St. Nicholas is well aware of his reputation. She has spent years observing him on television and from afar due to an inexplicable obsession, but the thought of a close encounter with him or any other vampire now terrifies her.

Ten months ago Honor was kidnapped by vampires and raped and tortured for eight weeks. While two of her attackers were killed during her rescue and two more captured alive, no information about the rest of her tormentors has been uncovered. Honor has been hiding in one of the Guild Academy buildings since the assault, so when Sara, the Guild director, calls her and informs her that she is needed to consult with Dmitri on a case, Honor feels shattered.

Nevertheless, she manages to scrape enough strength to pull herself together and meet with Dmitri at The Tower where he oversees Raphael’s empire. The encounter is anything but soothing – Dmitri presents Honor with a young vampire’s severed head whose tattoo he wants her to decipher.

Moreover, Dmitri is attracted to Honor, though she is far from his usual type. When he puts his hands on the back of her neck and she slices his face in instinctive self-defense, he promises her private, intimate retribution at his hands. But things begin to change when Dmitri learns what Honor suffered, and vows to bring all the remaining perpetrators to justice.

As he takes Honor along on his excursions to find her attackers and to mete out punishment to them, a bond develops between Honor, who slowly gains confidence and begins to trust this one vampire, and Dmitri, who persistently denies that he can have a lasting or meaningful relationship with any woman – but finds it difficult to deny Honor whatever she needs.

Archangel’s Blade is a melding of more than one genre, with elements of mystery, thriller, horror, urban fantasy and romance. From these disparate genres you craft a nearly seamless, powerful, riveting novel. I found myself wholly absorbed in Dmitri and Honor’s story as I watched both characters transform – Honor into a courageous survivor, Dmitri into a more human, tender, loving badass than he’d been before.

Archangel’s Blade reminded me of a bit of Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller, a book I remember loving back in the 1990s, and one that had a very similar premise. I thought Time Without End was pretty dark but Archangel’s Blade makes it look like a sweet and gentle story.

I appreciated that it was acknowledged multiple times how thin is the line that separates Dmitri from the villains he takes down. There’s a cruel streak in him at times (especially in the beginning of this book), and in the earlier books, I hated the way he forced his seductive scent on Elena.

One of the reasons I was able to love Dmitri despite this is that the vampire Dmitri was contrasted with the human he had once been, sweet, caring and loyal above all to his beloved wife and children. You do a great job of showing what a lovely person that human Dmitri had been, how much he had lost, and showing also, that some remnants of that man were still in Dmitri.

Honor is also haunted, not just by the events of her recent past and her foster home upbringing, but also by an inexplicable sense of loss she has always lived with. I felt that past and present weren’t quite as well-integrated in her as they had been in Dmitri’s character. Surprisingly, it was easier to see the human Dmitri in him than it was to see the woman she’d once been in Honor.

But despite this, Dmitri and Honor’s journey gripped my guts and my heart. Seeing these two lost souls find love and acceptance with one another wasn’t just compelling, but also deeply moving.

Each time I read one of your books, I’m of two minds about the prose style. On the one hand, it feels a little choppy and repetitive at times, but on the other hand it’s also vivid, powerful and distinctive, and when I enjoy a book this much, it is difficult to complain.

A bigger problem for me, especially with this series, is the violence. This book is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Still, although the violence disturbed me, it also worked better for me than it has in the previous Guild Hunter books. I was quickly plunged into the dark places Dmitri and Honor inhabited and from there, followed their struggle toward a ray of light.

It was brave of you to tackle this much darkness and emotional baggage in one book. I was so touched when, at the end of the book, Honor and Dmitri fully understood and embraced the love they had found in each other, and yet, they had both lived through so much heartbreak and pain that the book left me a bit melancholy despite the happy ending.

Nonetheless, for its intense emotional quality and its romantic and redemptive feel, this is my favorite installment of the Guild Hunter series so far. B+/A-.

~Janine

What Janine is Reading 8/21/11-9/4/11

Janine — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:00:27 +0000

In the reading world I’m more of a turtle than a greyhound. During the past two weeks, I read two books. Here’s a recap:

Archangel’s Consort by Nalini Singh

I picked up this third novel in Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series in preparation for book four, Archangel’s Blade, which I had committed myself to reviewing. Since Jane has reviewed Archangel’s Consort I won’t regurgitate the plot. Suffice to say that though I liked the book less than Jane did, it wasn’t a bad way to pass the time.

As others have said, the ongoing conflict between Raphael and Elena was somewhat repetitive. Those parts of the book didn’t engage me as much as others. Also, I find some of the graphic violence in this series very hard to read, but I thought that in this book it wasn’t quite as gruesome and disturbing as in book two,Archangel’s Kiss.

What I liked a lot was the conflict between Elena and her father, Jeffrey. Their scenes together have riveted me since book one. There are times I wish that complex family dynamics got a little more attention in the romance genre so I was pleased to see that was the case in this book. I also love the vivid descriptions of the angels in these books, and the aerial love scene was something. Still, Angels’ Blood (#1 in the series) remains my favorite of the Elena/Raphael books.

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh

Who would have thought that I could come to care so much about Dmitri? He’s been a complete jerk to Elena for three books, but as soon as Honor St. Nicholas showed up on his turf, I was 110% engaged with this dark and sometimes painful story, and couldn’t put it down.

Ultimately, though it wasn’t perfect, I ended up liking Archangel’s Blade a whole lot more than Archangel’s Kiss or Archangel’s Consort. It’s probably my favorite of all the Guild Hunter books thus far. This may be partly because I prefer books that introduce me to a new couple and resolve their romance in one book to books that drag a relationship out for multiple installments. But another part is simply that this story was deeply emotional – even haunting and touching.

Since I have a review of the book in the pipeline, I will endeavor not to repeat my thoughts, but I did want to discuss something that interests me about my own emotional response to this series. As in Archangel’s Kiss (#2, my least favorite) there is quite a bit of violence here – including brutal violence against children. I won’t say that this aspect of Archangel’s Blade didn’t disturb me, but I was able to tolerate it much better than I did in Archangels’ Kiss.

Perhaps my greater ability to bear it was because the nature of the violence against children was less gruesome, though no less horrific. I felt there was somewhat less focus on the physical details, and much of the impact came from the emotional effects of these acts on the characters. But it may also have been due to my being more caught up in this story, more interested in Dmitri and Honor than I had been in Raphael and Elena by their second book.

What about you, readers? What have you been reading lately? Have you read Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series and if so, what are your thoughts on these books? Do you ever find reading about violence, in this series or elsewhere, disturbing? Do you ever tolerate equally strong violence more in one book than another? Why or why not?

What Jaclyn is Reading, Week of August 8

Jaclyn — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:25:44 +0000

I may be the slowest writer and least frequent reviewer of the DA crew, but I surely do read a lot. I have this funny (at least it’s funny to my husband) habit of buying more than one ebook at a time. If I’m going to go to the effort to surf the bookstore and type in the payment information, I figure I should buy a few things. Anyhoo, here’s what I’ve read in the past week.

An ARC of Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis. I’ll post a review closer to publication date. (Yes, I like it.)

Red Ribbon by Lila Dubois. New-to-me author. Liz has issues of shame over her masochist cravings creating the relationship drama and compelling emotional development arc in this 119 page story. I got to know these characters and cared what happened to them. I’ll read more books by Ms. Dubois.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

Blood and Steel by Angela Knight. Cyborgs and vamps. I liked this cyborg mercenary hero. And the heroine? Poor (vampire) baby needed someone to love her after almost 100 years of torture at the hands of her (now dead) vampire master. Dear readers, sometimes WTFery is fine entertainment. J

Hope’s Kiss by Angela Knight. The truth is I’ve got vamp fatigue, but I like Ms. Knight’s characters and, well, her characters are vamps. In this story the villain was a one-dimensional tool to help the hero and heroine come together. I’m not going to run around recommending this unless you’re ape-shit for vamp books or, like me, you read a book because it has Angela Knight’s name on it. Also? Coming in at 58 pages this short story is, well, short.

Forbidden Fruit by Anne Rainey. I was dinging around Red Sage’s web site, I’d never been there before, and I recognized Ms. Rainey’s name so I clicked on the book. This is a Cinderella story about a vet more comfortable in baggy clothes with her hair in a ponytail than in skirts and heels. For a while I thought the hero was a dumb-ass but I forgave him. So did the heroine.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

Feeding the Vampire by Jeffe Kennedy. I follow Ms. Kennedy on Twitter, she cracks me up. I thought this was too short, coming in at only 29 pages. I was interested in the characters and whatever the heck happened to make the world go boom and then BAM! The story was all done. I wanted more.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

I re-read Nalini Singh’s Kiss of Snow on Sunday. I need an infusion of Psy-Changlings every couple months. Addicted much?

Anne Calhoun’s Fighting Fair. Damn but Ms. Calhoun creates characters that are so real. Also, in writing about married people who have Issues, she cuts through the WTFery set ups that a lot of short story/novella erotic romances have.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

Wild & Steamy, an anthology that includes Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, and Carolyn Crane. I bought this because of the Iron Seas story; it was my first read of both Jill Myles and Carolyn Crane—I’ll be seeking more books from both. I’ve gotten disinterested (or maybe really, really picky) in ménage stories, and I liked this one by Ms. Myles. Ms. Crane’s world has peaked my interest and now I want to read more.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

She Knows His Secret by Racy Li. I’m a sucker for superheroes so the cover of this book caught my eye. Toss in a heroine who is a brainiac scientist-medical doctor and I bought it. I was expecting shoot-‘em up superheroes vs. aliens and got an emotionally wrecked hero fighting to get his girl back after she dumps him for keeping secrets. Smart woman made him work for her. Win.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

While buying school supplies for my son I slipped a copy of Christina Dodd’s Secrets of Bella Terra into the shopping cart and plan to read it next.

What are you reading? Have you read any of these? What do you think of them?

Cheers fellow readers,

Jaclyn

Theories on Kaleb Krychek. The Man, The Mystery, The Romance

Jane — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:00:23 +0000

After I read Kiss of Snow, I started to re-read the entire Psy series. I did so because in reading Kiss of Snow, I began to form a picture of Kaleb Krychek in my mind and I had to go back and figure out if the previous mentions of him fit the crystallizing image.

This is a post full of spoilers. Please don’t read and complain you got spoiled. Everything in this post is spoilerish. It’s like a spoiler fiesta. Or a spoiler pinata that’s been broken open with all the spoilers lying on the ground. Warning given. You can read the conversational review here. Let’s begin.

I’ve placed citations to the books whenever I’ve stated a fact. A fact is something that is confirmed by the text in one of the Psy-Changeling books. Supposition is everything that doesn’t have a cite.

Introduction

Kaleb Krycheck first appears in Visions of Heat. Even after 10 books, Visions remains one of the best sources of information on Kaleb. A space on the Psy Council, the governing body of the Psy people, was created when Santano Enrique was killed by the Changelings at the end of Slave to Sensation. Kaleb’s name was floated by Shoshanna Scott, partner to Henry, to replace the empty Council seat.

“Another possibility is Kaleb Krychek,” Shoshanna responded. “He’s a cardinal Tk and part of the Council ranks. I’m placing the files on him beside the ones on Faith. You’ll note that his control over his telekenetic abilities is reputed to be superb.” (Visions)

Kaleb’s power is that he can drive individuals clinically insane. He is also a Tk that purportedly can create earthquakes and possibly even level a city. (Kiss of Snow)

Kaleb was placed in a training facility at the age of three and after displaying considerable power was taken by Enrique for personal mentoring (if that sounds ominous, it is). Kaleb was Enrique’s protege:

Cold and desolate, each unmarked grave reminded him of the lightless rooms used by another killer, a sociopath who’d groomed Kaleb to be his audience . . . and his protégé. (Bonds of Justice)

and

It was several pages long and stamped with the seal of the training facility where Kaleb had been placed at age three, when he’d first begun exhibiting his considerable telekinetic strength. As was usual, the juvenile files had been sealed at Kaleb’s majority, which was why she’d had such trouble getting them…and why she hadn’t known the name of Kaleb’s trainer: Santano Enrique. (Caressed by Ice)

At the age of seven, something seismic happens in Kaleb’s life.

He came to stand beside her, hands in the pockets of his tailored suit. “On the contrary, Nikita. I alone was responsible for my ascension to the Council.” He’d set his eye on the goal at age seven and never blinked. No one had been allowed to stand in his way. But then, all the Councilors had blood on their hands. (Caressed)

Nikita notes that his files show a significant gap between ages seven years, four months and seven years, seven months.

She soon began to notice odd gaps in the record. There was a continuous accounting of his progress up to age seven years, four months, but the next entry didn’t appear until age seven years, seven months. What had Kaleb been doing in the intervening three months? Again and again, the pattern repeated itself. The gaps were highly irregular. Training logs were meant to be kept strictly up-to-date.
…
Each gap in the log appeared one week to the day after Kaleb had had a personal training session with Enrique. With any other trainer, it would’ve been a cause for concern, but not a major problem overall.

(Caressed)

Kaleb is inextricably tied to the Netmind and the Dark Mind (more on this later). He first spoke to the Dark Mind at seven years of age. (Mine to Possess)

Kaleb and the Girl

I think Kaleb searches for someone. Perhaps someone he was trained with under the hands of Enrique. I posit that Kaleb was raised with another Psy, perhaps an F Psy, who became important to him. Enrique figured this out and ensured Kaleb’s compliance with threats toward her. We know from Caressed by Ice that Silence is implemented by a biofeedback inside a person. Emotional response triggers a violent pushback using the Psy’s own skills which is why the stronger the Psy, the more likely they will go insane as the Silence breaks down.

According to the discussion in Visions, there are two types of individuals that are uniquely suited to controlling the NetMind: Tk and F Psy (the Council contemplated inviting Faith Nightstar, the strongest F Psy in existence to be part of the Council). There are anchors to the Netmind. The councilors are anchors but two gradients are uniquely qualified to control the NetMind: Tk and Psy (Visions of Heat)

I think that this girl and Kaleb will be responsible for bringing the NetMind and DarkMind together.

Sascha’s eyes met hers and there was such grief in them. “Until the DarkMind and the NetMind are merged again, the Psy will continue to produce the most vicious serial killers on the planet.” (Visions of Heat)

Kaleb searches for something:

However, today, Kaleb had no interest in mining the PsyNet for data—except for the one crucial piece of information that he searched for constantly, day and night, awake or asleep. That task hummed in the back of his head as usual, but his conscious mind was focused on reaching the dark core of the Net, home to the psychic vault of the Council chambers. (Mine to Possess)

My theory is that he is searching for this girl turned woman. She is represented to him by a small platinum charm:

After his aide left, Kaleb took a small platinum charm from his pocket.

A single star. A marker.

The NetMind and DarkMind had both defied him in his search for the owner of the charm, but he would succeed. Failure simply wasn’t an option. (Hostage to Pleasure)

Kaleb’s emblem is a star. The PsyNet is like a web of stars. Kaleb’s woman is somewhere in the PsyNet, initially hidden by Enrique but now is obscured by the NetMind and DarkMind. I believe that the minds are hiding the woman because she is their anchor. She may be considered a maternal figure to them. Kaleb treats the PsyNet proprietarily:

“That’s their mistake.” Kaleb would allow no one to shatter that which he considered his. And for now, the PsyNet needed his fellow Councilors. When it no longer did . . . (Branded by Fire)

I also posit that the woman is from Russia. Kaleb’s base is there but in Branded by Fire, he acknowledges that he does not own the house.

He looked at the chip in his hand. Each intruder had had one in the back of his neck. Clearly, it was equipped with some kind of a suicide strategy—or perhaps murder was more apt. But why would the Alliance target Kaleb? Not that their reasoning mattered. The assassins had signed their death warrants the instant they set out to destroy the house.

Because this wasn’t truly Kaleb’s house. He was only a caretaker. And he took his responsibility very, very seriously. (Branded by Fire)

In Bonds of Justice, we find that Kaleb has found a fragment of information that might lead to his “quarry”.

Councilor Kaleb Krychek was just getting into his car for the drive to his office in Moscow when he felt it. A telepathic ricochet. Catching the returning tracker with a psychic hand, he leaned against the vehicle. He had thousands of these invisible psychic constructs scattered throughout the Net, all of them primed to scan through billions upon billions of bytes for data for one name.

This was the first one that had returned since he began his search six years, five months, and three weeks ago.

He was careful with the old and fragile construct, not wanting to lose what it had brought back to him. It took him almost ten minutes to penetrate the layers of his own security—and then, there it was. That name, linked to information that had passed through a distant part of the Net two weeks ago. The information was fragmented, the trail would be difficult if not impossible to pick up, but that mattered little at this point.

Because at last, he had confirmation that his quarry was alive. (Bonds of Justice)

Kaleb admits that the person he searches for is a her but that he cannot teleport to her:

Kaleb looked at the body of the human he’d just killed, his fingers playing with the small platinum charm—a single perfect star—that was always with him, no matter where he went. Glancing down at the star, he said, “For you.” For the one person who he knew better than anyone else on this earth, and yet could not teleport to, no matter how many times he tried.

And he’d tried every single day for over six years.

Kaleb and the DarkMind

The DarkMind is a sentient being, one half of the being that controls and informs the Psynet. The Netmind is “unique sentience that lived in and made order out of the chaos of the PsyNet.” (Caressed by Ice) The Netmind was trained by the Councilors and through Silence to manipulate the PsyNet. The PsyNet is breaking in two: Netmind and DarkMind. It is evidenced by the twins Ashaya and Amara Aleine (Hostage to Pleasure) but further bolstered by Faith Nightstar’s visions. At one time, before the Silence, the PsyNet was “rainbow-hued and alive.” But the years of suppressing emotion has created a duality. (Visions of Heat)

The DarkMind, by comparison, was pure chaos. Very, very few people knew about the DarkMind. And only one could assert any control over it.

As a cardinal telekinetic, Kaleb had a natural affinity with both the NetMind and the DarkMind. Now he reached out a psychic hand and touched the DarkMind. (Mine to Possess)

Kaleb and the Ghost

I have, for some reason, always believed that Kaleb was the Ghost. The Ghost first appears in Caressed by Ice. The Ghost is a rebel who is responsible for the destruction of a Protocol I lab. Protocol I was a program that would see the implantation of chips into the Psy and create one true hive mind. The Ghost has unknown loyalties. The Ghost is one with both psychic and physical warfare skills. (Caressed by Ice) Faith notes in Visions that Kaleb’s climb up the Council ranks was unusual for a Cardinal. Cardinals are usually too cerebral to be concerned about politics.

The Ghost is an expert at finding classified information. (Mine to Possess) Kaleb is jacked into the web running discreet searches at all times, on a low level. (Bonds of Justice). Both are able to ride the slipstreams of data without detection. (Kiss of Snow and Blaze of Memory). Both the Ghost and Kaleb have been described as having blood on their hands. (Caressed by Ice and Blaze of Memory) Both the Ghost and Kaleb are able to teleport.

Both have unique connection to the Net:

The other man had looked at him with those eyes that held nothing of humanity.”I found it because I go where no one goes. There are places in the Net that belong only to me.” (Kiss of Snow)

and

Kaleb paused, as if considering how much to reveal. As a cardinal telekinetic, perhaps the most powerful Tk in the Net, he wielded considerable control over the NetMind, the neosentient entity that was the Net given form. It provided Kaleb with a conduit of data no other Councilor could match. (Blaze of Memory)

But most importantly, the are both looking for some one person:

The only thing the Ghost had admitted to date was that there was at least one individual in the Net who had some value to him, one person he did not want dead. That was the solitary thing that kept him from annihilating the entire Council, an act that would cause a psychic shockwave that would destabilize the Net, killing millions. (Kiss of Snow)

It was a scene in Blaze of Memory that really cemented my idea that the Ghost and Kaleb are one and the same. In Blaze there is a scene featuring Judd, the priest Xavier, and the Ghost. Xavier tells the story of the woman that he has lost, a woman that he made jump over a cliff into water to save herself. Xavier tells this story to Judd to explain why he believes in God:

“The answer,” Judd said, “is that so long as Xavier believes in God, he can believe Nina lives, that she somehow survived.”

“That logic is inherently flawed,” the Ghost pointed out, but there was something in his voice that Judd couldn’t quite catch.

Xavier shook his head. “There is no logic to it, my friend. It has everything to do with the heart and nothing to do with the head.” (Blaze of Memory)

So these are my theories. I’m interested in hearing yours about anything. (Also, I love Vasic, Aden and all those poor, poor Arrows but that is another post.).

JOINT REVIEW: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

Janine — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:00:19 +0000

Janine: I’ve been hankering for Nalini Singh’s Kiss of Snow ever since I realized Hawke would be paired with Sienna, and was so excited to receive the ARC that even though I was in the middle of two other books, I dropped them to read this one the day I got it. When I had finished, I emailed the other DA reviewers to see if anyone wanted to do a joint/conversational review. Happily, Shuzluva jumped at the chance to discuss it with me.

Shuzluva: I’m in the same boat as Janine; I was *trying* to read two other books (one successfully, the other? Not so much) and when I got this ARC I took a deep breath and plunged right in. I’m excited to discuss the book with Janine since we share the same love of the series but have definitely disagreed about certain books and characters.

Janine: But first, a plot summary. Kiss of Snow begins with Hawke, the alpha of the SnowDancer wolf changeling pack chastising two of his young soldiers for getting into a fight while on duty. Maria is contrite but Sienna challenges Hawke’s authority. Hawke disciplines both girls but simmering under the surface is the unwanted sexual tension between Sienna and Hawke.

Longtime readers of Singh’s Psy/Changeling series know that Sienna is a member of the Psy, a race of psychics linked through a neural network called the PsyNet. Through a protocol called Silence, the Psy repress all emotions, but Sienna’s family, the Laurens, defected from the PsyNet when Sienna was deemed by the one of the leaders on the Psy Council to be too powerful.

Rather than watch Sienna and her younger brother Toby and cousin Marlee die, Sienna’s two uncles, Walker and Judd, risked their lives and disengaged from the net, and the family survived by forming its own psychic network and finding asylum with Hawke’s wolf pack.

All that happened when Sienna was sixteen. Now she is nineteen, nearly twenty, and in love with Hawke, a man who once mistrusted all Psy because of the damage they inflicted on his loved ones years before. But Sienna’s fascination with Hawke only hurts her, because Hawke, although powerfully attracted to her, resists his feelings with all his strength.

Between Hawke and Sienna stands more than one conflict. Most prominent is the difference in their ages — Hawke’s age isn’t given in this book, but I believe he is in his thirties, while Sienna is nineteen.

In addition, there is the fact that when Hawke was just ten years old, he suffered an almost unbearable loss — Rissa, the girl who would have become his mate had she lived to adulthood, died. The wolf changelings only mate once in a lifetime, and Hawke knows he cannot mate again.

Finally, Sienna is a cardinal X-Psy, which means she possesses lethal and limitless power. But that very power threatens to consume her and perhaps even those in whose vicinity she lives, including her family and Hawke’s wolf pack. No X-Psy is known to have lived as long as Sienna, and although she herself remains in denial, Judd fears she does not have much time left.

For all those reasons, especially the age difference, Hawke is wary of Sienna’s appeal to him. He tries to tell himself that she is off-limits, but her friendship with the leopard changeling Kit gets under his skin. When Hawke’s sexual hunger begins to affect the teens in his pack, he knows he must sleep with someone, but he does not intend that it be Sienna.

Sienna, angry and hurt after realizing this, decides to move on and goes clubbing with friends. After her dancing nearly incites a fight at the club, Hawke collects her and dances with her in the moonlight. Because he can’t stand to free her to be with someone else, but knows that he cannot give her all she deserves — the profound connection of the mating bond – Hawke sends Sienna mixed signals.

Sienna is torn and confused, but eventually she understands that she needs to fight for Hawke, as she’s seen her packmates do for their mates.

Meanwhile, things are heating up in the war between the members of Pure Psy and the changelings, and the coming battle threatens not just Hawke and Sienna, but all they hold dear.

Interspersed between Sienna and Hawke’s romance is a quieter romantic relationship that unfolds between Sienna’s uncle, Walker Lauren, and Lara, the wolf changelings’ healer. Lara and Walker were close friends until one night a kiss changed that. Walker drew away from Lara and his rejection hurt her, but six months later, the two still miss each other.

Also woven in is a thread about Alice Eldridge, a scientist who wrote a dissertation on the X-Psy over a century earlier, before the implementation of Silence. Alice’s emails to her father appear at the end of some of the chapters, as Alice gets closer and closer to uncovering what may or may not be the solution that could save Sienna’s life.

I’m anxious to hear what you thought of Kiss of Snow, Shuzluva. This book grabbed me by the throat and I spent every free minute reading it, even skipping dinner for hours because the story was so gripping.

Hawke and Sienna’s relationship has been building over the course of the series and this was the culmination not only of their unrequited feelings, but also of the first arc of the Psy/Changeling series itself, with hostilities between the series’ protagonists and the villains finally breaking out into war.

We were also treated to the birth of Luke and Sascha’s baby – and no, I’m not revealing the gender or name of the child in this review! Judd and the mysterious Ghost’s alliance took a very compelling turn, too, with the Ghost conflicted over whether to help Judd save Sienna when she could present a threat to his own plans.

For all those reasons I could hardly put this book down, and I was left reflecting on how well Nalini Singh builds her plot arcs and sets up her emotional payoffs. I think she is one of the genre’s best when it comes to plotting. This book was also, as you mentioned to me in an email, tightly written, and all of that made it a very satisfying read. I think it might be my new favorite in this series.

Shuzluva: First, thank you for the fantastic plot summary, Janine. I know I would have probably given something away that shouldn’t be discussed in a review, but my tendency is to overshare when I’m trying to make a point.

Janine: Thanks, but I’ve been known to give away spoilers too. I hope I haven’t done so in this instance.

Shuzluva: Regarding my immediate reaction to Kiss of Snow, I am in the same boat as you. I managed to read this book during every free minute I had and absolutely blew through it. That’s not to say this book is a light read. Things get hot and heavy in a number of ways and the reading is intense on both an intellectual and psychological level.

I actually found myself going back to re-read certain passages that had less to do with the emotional arc of the story and more to do with the nuts-and-bolts of Sienna’s designation, the movement towards open hostilities between the Psy and the Changelings (and humans), and certain tactical interactions between characters just to make sure I didn’t miss anything critical.

As I noted to you, the book is incredibly tight, with the primary story strongly interwoven with the secondary and tertiary plot lines so much so that no event or action seems extraneous or gratuitous.

Janine: Great point about the weaving of the plot lines. I loved the ways they impacted on one another.

Shuzluva: I have been fascinated by the progression of Hawke and Sienna’s relationship from the moment the two of them appeared on the page together way back when. While I don’t think of dogs as sensual creatures the same way as cats (and I’m a dog person, trust me), Hawke always appealed to me on a physical level, and from the very first, his antagonistic relationship with Sienna was a recipe for serious combustion. Their interactions are so hot that there were times I was sure my eyeballs were going to catch fire.

I have been driving myself crazy in terms of trying to figure out who the Ghost is. I have a pretty good idea, but I’m still not convinced. Judd Lauren’s alliance with him and their scenes are totally compelling. This will probably be one of my classic overshares: I cannot wait to see what happens next with the Psy Council and the repercussions it will have on the PsyNet.

One of the reasons this series works so well for me, and this book especially, is that the different characters appear without a hiccup in personality or voice. That is highlighted with the birth of Lucas and Sasha’s baby. The interactions between the SnowDancer and DarkRiver packs (and the reminders that they were once not allied with each other) were superbly done, and the focus shifted smoothly from one character to another and one situation to another. I know I’ve mentioned this before in my reviews of the Psy/Changeling series, but the characters are so well written that they each retain their individual personalities without becoming background wallpaper. With a cast that is now well over 50 characters, of which over half have been written about in significant detail, the ability to continue making all of them integral to the story is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Janine: Agreed, it is very impressive.

Shuzluva: Your use of “emotional payoff” hit the nail on the head. Kiss of Snow is a gripping read due to both the emotional and intellectual payoffs. For me, it’s definitely in the top three of the series.

Janine: It is easily up there for me as well. With regard to criticisms, I can find very few things to complain about. Singh has a tendency to use certain words and phrases a lot, but this is one of the things that give her writing style its vivid and distinctive quality which has grown on me over the course of the series.

Gender roles are a bit on the traditional side in certain regards in these books, too. The male protagonists are almost always dominant and lethal, while the women, though emotionally strong, shy away from killing. We hear about the maternal contributions of submissive females, but the submissive males don’t get much positive attention.

Some of the Psy/Changeling books I’ve liked best have been those where that hero/heroine dynamic is a little less conservative, such as Branded by Fire, with its sexually experienced heroine, or Play of Passion with its older heroine/younger hero matchup. But even though this book doesn’t fit that description, I enjoyed it so tremendously that I was only very slightly bothered by the fact that Hawke outmatched Sienna in many ways. More on the reasons why in a minute.

What about you, Shuzluva? Did this book have any drawbacks for you?

Shuzluva: I agree with you about the traditional gender roles in this series. The lack of a positive submissive male model was highlighted in Play of Passion, and I was definitely bothered by it as well as another plot point that had to do with gender roles in the same book. I know we discussed it in an email exchange, and while I loved Play of Passion, that particular point still sticks in my craw. If anyone would like to discuss it with me (I know I’m being somewhat vague here, but I don’t want to give away plot points that are well into a book) feel free to mention it in the comments.

In this particular book, the gender roles were in no way reversed, but perhaps better balanced due to Sienna’s abilities. You mentioned the males of the series being lethal, but Hawke admits he takes no pleasure in killing, which made that particular aspect of their relationship an easy read for me. I did have a bit of a struggle with the age gap between Hawke and Sienna (even though it’s unclear as to exactly what their age difference is), and frankly I wish that Sienna had just a couple more years on her. I’ll discuss that below.

Janine: Yes, let’s discuss the way Singh handled the age difference. As I read this book I compared it to Julie Anne Long’s What I Did for a Duke, where there was a similar age difference between the characters. The Long book had a more realistic treatment of that type of conflict, with the heroine at first dismissing the hero as much older, and only coming of age during the course of that story. Genevieve’s immaturity was an integral obstacle to the romance in that book.

By contrast, Singh chose to present Sienna very differently. Despite her youth and her sexual inexperience, Sienna lived through some horrors in childhood, and those things forced her to grow up early so that she is in some ways as strong and emotionally mature as Hawke.

I think it is perhaps a less true-to-life depiction because I believe that in real life someone who lived through the kind of abuse Sienna endured as a child would come out more damaged, and not necessarily strong enough to handle Hawke with all his possessiveness, dominant instincts.

But putting aside that caveat, I have to say that I really enjoyed the relationship between the two of them and didn’t care much that it wasn’t entirely realistic.

I loved that Sienna was vulnerable, but not as much as she was when she first arrived on SnowDancer land. I loved that she was mature enough to understand what was driving Hawke, while still being young enough to go clubbing in sexy jeans and dance on top of the bar when she thought he’d be sleeping with someone else.

And I loved that Hawke was so thrown by his feelings for her, so conflicted as to acting on them. I know that there are many readers who dislike big age differences, and often I do too. I also feel Singh walked a tightrope here, because Hawke would probably be too much for most thirty year old women, let alone a nineteen year old.

But ultimately this aspect of the book worked for me because Hawke wasn’t waiting for Sienna to grow up so he could jump her bones – he struggled as hard as he could to stay away from her, and only gave in when he realized how impossible that was for both of them.

Hawke’s internal struggle made it clear that his control over the situation had shattered, and in a strange way that shifted the balance of power between him and Sienna, so that despite the age and rank difference, to say nothing of his dominant alpha personality and greater sexual experience, there was a feeling of the two of them being on equal ground. He was in some ways just as powerless in the face of his need for Sienna as she felt with him early on in the book.

Shuzluva: You laid out Sienna and Hawke’s issues beautifully here. I think my greatest struggle was reconciling the Sienna I was reading on the page with her chronological age. On an emotional level she didn’t read like a 19 year old, especially a 19 year old that had been Silent for the majority of her life. I definitely had some trouble with this, and I realize that some of it has to do with my own view of age differences and maturity. And it bothered me as well that we don’t know how old Hawke is. I think it’s another indication of “it shouldn’t matter”, but it must for me because I’m thinking about it.

Janine: We agree on both these points. I wished Hawke’s age had been given in the book because I wanted to know exactly how many years separated him from Sienna’s, and I also felt that Sienna’s maturity wasn’t entirely realistic. But despite these issues, I enjoyed the conflicted, combustive chemistry between the main characters so much that I was willing to throw my reservations to the wind and fly with the story.

Shuzluva: What saved this for me was Sienna’s very age-appropriate reactions to Hawke (read: going clubbing in sexy gear to get him jealous) and her ability to slice down to the heart of the matter whether it was dealing with her own fears and feelings or Hawke’s. Sienna’s direct approach to the deepest emotional conflict was refreshing and her down and dirty confrontation with Hawke rang so true that I could almost hear the bells going off.

Janine: Terrific points about Sienna. How did you feel about Lara and Walker? That subplot didn’t grab my attention right away because at first their dynamic seemed a bit too similar to Hawke and Sienna’s, with Walker sending Lara push-pull signals and Lara being hurt by them, but once Walker started to open up to Lara, that relationship developed in a different direction from the Hawke and Sienna storyline and I started caring about them too.

Shuzluva: From Walker and Lara’s first interaction I knew we were going to be treated to a secondary romantic subplot. I admit that I mentally groaned when Walker began with the hot/cold crap and Lara acted wounded by his withdrawal. But I was curious about the one Lauren family member that seemed to be the least well drawn. I am thankful that Walker and Lara’s relationship went very differently than I had assumed (damn assumptions) and am now a huge Walker fan.

Janine: On another note, I really enjoyed the interactions between Judd and the Ghost. The Ghost remains as enigmatic as ever, and his actions in this book have made me even more interested in him than I was before. I hope he gets his own book eventually, and the same goes for Vasic and Aden from Judd’s Arrow squad.

Shuzluva: I mentioned my fascination with the Ghost above, and the confusion behind his loyalties and actions. With Hawke finishing his romantic arc, I find that I’m hopeful we will get another Psy-driven book (*cough* Kaleb *cough*) versus another SnowDancer / DarkRiver one.

Janine: Sounds good to me. There are some falcon changelings waiting for their turn, too.

It’s time to grade Kiss of Snow. I very rarely give A range grades to books unless I love the prose as much as I do the characters, and while I care about plot, which is one of Singh’s greatest strengths as a writer, it isn’t usually my highest priority as a reader or a reviewer.

Still, this book was such a roller coaster ride — with great pacing, emotional scenes that made me cry, happy moments that brought a goofy smile to my face, and scorching hot love scenes — that I can’t give it less than an A-.

Shuzluva: I am on the opposite end of the spectrum. If a book has an amazing plot and characters that are only likeable, I’m likely to give it a higher grade than if the reverse were true.

Beyond plot, I feel that a lot of components seamlessly came together in Kiss of Snow and the book provides emotional as well as intellectual rewards that are not solely dependent upon the main characters. And all the sexin’ didn’t suck either. Kiss of Snow gets an A from me.

JOINT REVIEW: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh (and Giveaway)

Janine — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:00:20 +0000

UPDATE: We’ve decouple the review from the giveaway because this is a book so many want to talk about. The review will be reposted on Monday in a new and separate post.

The winners have all been emailed.

1) Andy Swanson
2) Cath
3) Adrianne Robinson
4) Jenny
5) Sera
6) Nicola
7) sequoia
8) Erika

NOTE FROM JANE: We have 8 copies of the hardcover debut from a Dear Author favorite, Nalini Singh. These 8 copies we will give away on Sunday to a random commenter to this post. This book engendered such a strong response that Janine and Shuzluva decided to do a joint review. There may be some spoilers in this review and if you don’t want to be spoiled, just skip to the comments section and leave a comment as to why you want to read Kiss of Snow. I’ll tell you my reason. Because Singh delivered everything she promised when Hawke and Sienna were first introduced in the first book in this series, Slave to Sensation. I’ve told anyone who asked that yes, this book is worth the hardcover price.

Tuesday Links: The Kindle with Special Offers

Jane — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:00:20 +0000

Amazon is offering a new discounted Kindle. The catch is that the screensaver and home screen of the Kindle will feature ads. The discount is only $25.00 and available only in the U.S. I’m not convinced that $25.00 is worth it and I think this signals in book advertising in some manner is on the horizon. What is interesting is that these coupon codes, like the one shown in the ad above, will ONLY be available to the Amazon Kindle with special offers. If Amazon kept offering gift cards like the one in the screensaver, even I would be moved to get the Kindle with benefits.

In fact, 24Symbols, a Spanish company, is looking to bring ad supported content to the readers. I’m not sure if it is a US oriented endeavor or a Spanish one or a European one. The site is in English.

****

New Zealand author Nalini Singh is being sent on tour in the U.S. This tour culminates with an author tea, much like the ones that HarperCollins has been experimenting with. (It is, in fact, co sponsored by HarperCollins). There are different pricing tiers which allows you VIP seating and/or seating with an Author of your choice (the most expensive at $75.00). I’m still of the opinion that this program is being tested to see if it can make money. Each event has been a little different with different price tags. I think HC and other publishers are experimenting and frankly, I think that is smart.

****

A blogger cites some disturbing reading statistics from a study by the Jenkins Group. I can’t find the study at the Jenkins Group website although I have emailed to request more information.

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
80 percent of US families did not read or buy a book last year.

****

According to this study, kids need to read to get ahead. The lede is that kids who read go to universities and kids who play computer games don’t. (Everytime I read this article, the song by Cake “Sheep Go to Heaven/Goats Go to Hell”). The conclusion of the article, however, confuses the issue:

The research suggests teenagers who spend a lot of time playing video games should not worry too much about their career prospects. Playing computer games frequently did not reduce the likelihood that a 16-year-old would be in a professional or managerial job at 33, the research finds. Mr Taylor's analysis also indicates that children who read books and did one other cultural activity further increased their chances of going to university.

So who knows. I think the Guardian (where the article was published) wants people to read. Cake wants you to be a sheep. Or a goat.

*****

Speaking of Cake, this is a hilarious video:

****

At the London Book Fair this year, CEOs stated that digital books mean paying closer attention to the consumers.

"At every step, something dramatic is happening," Makinson said, from different forms and formats, to apps, mobility, and social networking activity, and “the changing character of content,” is shifting the role of publishers, and forcing them to learn new skills. This includes a more direct relationship with consumers and the need for better pricing analytics. "We have to understand what consumers want, and what they are prepared to pay," he said.

Makinson is the Chairman of the Penguin Group. The consumers are talking and maybe the publishers are listening but maybe they are not. Apparently there is a new premium paperback being produced. The first one sighted was J.A. Jance’s Queen of the Night. Noted as a mass market but sold for the price of $11.99, this product somehow falls between the mass market and the trade paperback in terms of price and size. I’m not sure what consumer group was clamouring for this.

Consumers over at the Kindle boards usually have a lot to say about price. Look at Michael Connolly’s reviews at Amazon. Over 132 of the 199 reviews are one stars and those one star reviews given are primarily complaints about price. The top low starred review discusses the issue of price:

I notice that some people have a problem with reviewers commenting on the Kindle price for this book and others. Turns out that this is the only real forum for readers and fans to let the author and his publisher to know how much we despise this practice. There is no legitimate justification for charging prices for e-books that are higher than physical book prices.

*****

The Smithsonian Magazine had a fascinating article about gender and clothing. It starts out showing a picture of a child wearing a dress and holding a hat with feather trim. That child is not a girl but it is FDR. In 1884, when the photo was taken, it was the cultural norm for all children under the age of 6 or 7. Jo B. Paoletti explores the gender division of clothing in Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America. I’ll have to see if I can get that book from my library.

*****

The Flip is officially dead. The FLIP is a dedicated video camera designed to take short movies but apparently with smart phones and digital still cameras incorporating video recording capabilities, a dedicated device couldn’t withstand the competition. Is this a harbinger of things to come for all dedicated devices?

REVIEW: Archangel’s Consort by Nalini Singh

Jane — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:00:54 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh:

I feel like I am being a bit disloyal to the Psy/Changeling series by admitting that right now I am enjoying the Angel series more but it’s true. Even though we only get one book a year in this series (or maybe because we only get one book a year), I always wait impatiently for the next installment. There are a couple things I like about this series.

The worldbuilding is so intriguing. For those unfamiliar with this series, the world is comprised of angels, vampires and humans. There may be other stray beings around but those are the primary genetic beings. Angels are at the top of the hierarchy and they make the vampires, both willingly and unwillingly. Not every person is suited to be an immortal vampire and those that are psychologically incapable are rejected. This can lead to human pairings that result in one member being made a vampire and another not. Of course, there are other vampires that are made indiscriminately.

The angels are ruled by a number of Archangels, beings old and powerful. This conclave is known as the Cadre of Ten and they rule by geographic region. It is the only way that they can come to a peaceable resolution, knowing that if they did not have their own territory to rule, they would be in constant combat. Angels are born but births are rare. Raphael, the male protagonist of this series and ruler of North America, is the only progeny of two archangels. These angels, as many do, slowly went mad as they became older. His father killed many people. His mother actually intentionally dropped Raphael from a great height resulting in every bone of his body breaking. Raphael knows is that his mother is powerful, dangerous, and very likely insane. She is in a deep sleep and has been for centuries but recent events seem to indicate that she may be awakening. The purpose of her awakening is unclear as is her sanity and the threat she poses to Raphael and, more importantly, to his love, Elena.

Having read three Angel books from you, I can safely say that old angels are scary, dangerous angels. And this is where your attention to detail and plotting make such a difference. (And for those who haven’t read the first two books, you may want to look away as this is kind of spoilerish for the first two). The series is centered around Elena Deveraux, a former member of the Guild who police the vampires, either on their own but primarily at the request of the the vampires’ makers. Elena was particularly good at this because she is like a scent hound, able to pick up the scent of a vampire and track him via the scent. When Elena becomes near death as a result of attempting to carry out a task forced upon her by Raphael in book 1, Angel’s Blood, Raphael’s body unexpectedly produces ambrosia which transforms Elena from human to angel. But making Elena has created weakness in Raphael. The two are tied somehow and while Raphael’s power has strengthened Elena, her humanity has weakened Raphael. He takes longer to heal. He is more easily affected by attacks from others. Yet, her humanity might be the very thing that will keep Raphael from the path his father and possibly his mother has taken.

Archangel’s Consort opens with Elena still learning to be an angel, still weak. Her affinity as a tracker, however, hasn’t changed and she’s called in to investigate a killing of a child at a local private school, a school that her half sisters attend. As more vampires appear to go rogue and Raphael’s holding over Manhattan is challenged, Elena learns more about her family, an affinity that her step sister and she may share, and secrets her father has hidden deep.

If there is a theme to the book, it appears to be one about parents and their complicated love and jealousy for their children. Jeffrey, Elena’s despised father, had at one time shown genuine caring for her. Caliane, Raphael’s mother, tries to kill Raphael but does she do it out of love or jealousy? And for Elena and Raphael, they have to deal with what they are in relation to who their parents are. How much are the children the product of the parent or do they, as Raphael says at one point, make themselves.

As Elena grows as an angel, she has to learn some painful lessons. Her Guild is no longer her family. She has information, secret information regarding angels and vampires that she cannot share with them. She feels isolated even though she has found a true love with Raphael.

As with the other books, this is one part mystery, one part romance, one part urban fantasy. While I think the world is rich and the romance is satisfying, I did feel that there is a tendency to overdwell on some issues. There was a certain repetitiveness in passages that I could have done without. I do, however, like that themes and motifs brought out in Book 1 are carried forth in this book, indicating to me that you have a plan for this series which I appreciate as a reader. B.

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: Play of Passion by Nalini Singh

Shuzluva — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:00:52 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh,

I have a terrible time keeping up with series, even those I’m heavily invested in. Off the top of my head, I can think of half a dozen series by different authors that I initially loved but can’t find the energy or wherewithal to continue reading. That I’m anxious for the 10th book in your Psy/Changeling series minutes after having finished Play of Passion says two things: 1. holy fucking hell, I’ve read nine books in this series (along with various short stories and free things on your website, and 2. the last installment was good enough to have me pissed off that I read the last page of the book.

With Play of Passion, the action has moved firmly back into Changeling territory, our H/H are Indigo Riverie and Andrew Kincaid, both members of the SnowDancer wolf pack. This is the first book in the series that brings together a Changeling H/H from the same species, but don’t think that it’s a snore. Both Indigo and Drew have appeared in previous installments, with Drew’s siblings getting their own books (Caressed by Ice and Branded by Fire). Indigo is a Lieutenant and the highest-ranking female member of SnowDancer. Yep, Indigo is a dominant female and for her the pickin’s are slim, since only Hawke (the pack leader) and a handful of other lieutenants are as dominant as she. Drew is SnowDancer’s tracker, which includes being responsible for hunting down rogue wolves. Due to the nature of his job, Drew operates out of the normal pack hierarchy, appearing laid back and harmless so that all pack members will trust him even though one day he may be called upon to hunt and kill them.

The story begins with Indigo and Drew out in a storm hunting for a juvenile that they’re trying to prevent from going rogue. During the adrenaline rush after the hunt, Drew shifts and is on Indigo in a hot (and I mean hot) second, and Indigo is shocked by her reaction to the younger, less dominant, and totally unsuitable Drew. Afraid you’ve heard this before? I can’t completely argue against that: generally dominant Changeling women don’t want a more submissive man. However, the devil is in the details, and the characters, histories and emotional makeup are different enough that you are not reading the same story twice. Drew’s interest in Indigo started in adolescence as admiration. It has since coalesced into something much more intense, and very difficult to deal with because Indigo refuses to see Drew as anything but a platonic companion.

I loved reading about the relationship dance between these two characters. Drew is desperate to have Indigo, and all rationality, along with his easy-going personality, fly out the window when he realizes that he may have…er…screwed the pooch by first jumping all over her, and then by acting like a dominant overprotective schmuck toward a woman that needs absolutely no protection. To make up for lost ground Drew does flattery and groveling on a level superior to anything I’ve ever witnessed, and wish I could experience first hand!

Strong, likable female characters are abundant in this series, and Indigo is no exception. She’s the cool, collected lieutenant that everyone in the pack can depend upon for a logical decision. Indigo’s no cold automaton though; she provides affection, attention, and instruction to all the pack members (including the delicious and irascible Hawke) in equal measure. But when it comes to her interaction with Drew, he isn’t the only one that is smacked by the crazy stick. Indigo’s usually calm and controlled demeanor is shot to hell when she realizes that Drew wants her and both her body and her emotions go haywire when he’s around. Her wolf can’t make sense of Drew’s position, actions or level of dominance which scares her. And for good reason Indigo fears any sort of long term involvement with a less dominant male. She tries to rationalize away her feelings, but it just ain’t happening. When the two of them manage to come together, it’s a true union of heads, hearts and souls.

The overarching story of the Psy/Changeling world is worked seamlessly into Play of Passion. The fracturing of the Psy Council, along with appearances by the ‘Ghost’ fit easily into the book, and the main focus thankfully does not leave Indigo and Drew. Because they are some seriously hot stuff. While I still haven’t figured out who the Ghost is, I have a few ideas, but could be totally off base, so I’m not going to bring them up here or in the comments, but feel free to air it out. The diversity of personalities, and Ms. Singh’s ability to maintain their individuality across nine books while bringing the Psy/Changeling world story to an even higher level of tension shouldn’t keep surprising me, but I can’t help myself. I’m chomping at the bit for Kiss of Snow. A.

~Shuzluva

November Recommended Reads

Jane — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:00:23 +0000

Here’s our November Recommended Reads. Do you have a book you think we should have recommended. Did you read one of these and have a totally different response? Let us know in the comments.

Jennie and Jane

Seven Nights to Forever by Evangeline Collins.

Janine and Shuzluva:

Play of Passion by Nalini Singh

Shuzluva:

Devil at Midnight by Emma Holly.

Sunita

Dating the Millionaire Doctor (Harlequin Medical, October print, November ebook) by Marion Lennox
Twelve Nights of Christmas (November HP Extra, M&B Modern line) by Sarah Morgan

Janine and Sunita

A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh

Jayne:

Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto by Liz Fielding
Christmas with Her Boss by Marion Lennox

Jill Sorenson

The Lovers by Eden Bradley

Jane:

The Best Laid Plans by Sarah Mayberry
Untameable Rogue by Kelly Hunter
Expecting the Boss’s Baby by Christine Rimmer
Crown of Crystal Flame by CL Wilson (recommend to readers of the series)

Dear Author Recommends for August

Jane — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:00:31 +0000

Can you believe that it is August already? I can’t. This year has just swept by. We’ve changed up the recommends rules a little bit to accommodate digital book and category book releases. We reviewers are having a hard time keeping up with the new release dates and so we are keeping our print recommendations to the month of their release, but being much more free about the category books (particularly the digital backlists) and digital first books. Hope that works for you readers. If you have any suggestions on how to make this better, let us know in the comments.

Burning Up by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, Meljean Brook. Recommended by Shuzluva, Jaclyn and Janine.
Still Life With Murder (Nell Sweeney Mysteries [formerly Gilded Age Mysteries])
by P.B. Ryan. Recommended by Jennie and Janine.
Fair Game by Josh Lanyon. Recommended by Sunita.
Ruthless (The House of Rohan) by Anne Stuart. Recommended by Angela.
The Heat Is On (Harlequin Blaze) by Jill Shalvis. Recommended by Jaclyn.
Hot Finish (Fast Track) by Erin McCarthy. Recommended by Jane.
Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong. Recommended by Jia.
Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase. Recommended by Janine, Jayne, Jane
Life, Over Easy by K.A. Mitchell. Recommended by Sunita, Sarah F.
Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James. Recommended by Jayne.
Baby Bombshell by Lisa Ruff. Recommended by Jayne.
An Heir for the Millionaire: The Greek and the Single Mom\The Millionaire’s Contract Bride by Julia James and Carole Mortimer (for HP lovers). Recommended by Jane.
Unspeakable by Laura Griffin. Recommended by Jayne.
All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins. Recommended by Jane.
Once and for All by Jeannie Watts. Recommended by Jane.
A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl. Recommended by Jane.
Awakened by a Kiss (Fiery Tales, Book 1) by Lila DiPasqua. Recommended by Jane.

REVIEW: Burning Up by Singh, Knight, Kantra and Brook

Janine — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:00:48 +0000

Dear Readers,

Burning Up is a new anthology of steamy paranormal novellas from Berkely. I almost never read or review entire anthologies, mainly because it takes me a long, long time to craft four mini-reviews, but in this case I was motivated to do so by my desire to try these stories, all of which sounded like they had potential. Here are my reviews of the four stories:

“Blood and Roses” by Angela Knight

“Blood and Roses” is set on a medieval-feeling world where women called Blood Roses were created to satisfy vampires and keep them content, so they would not rebel against the king. As the story begins, a vampire named Raniero is traveling with a small group of fighting men on a mission for the king. Amaris, a Blood Rose, watches the group while cloaked by an invisibility spell.

She is accompanied by her evil father, the vampire Tannaz, and two Varil, reptilian creatures who love nothing more than to feast on humans. Although she despises Tannaz and the Varil, Amaris has no choice but to help them attack Raniero and his fellow riders. If she refuses, her three year old half-sister, Marin, will be killed by the evil Lord Korban, a wizard whom Tannaz and the Varil are serving.

Amaris uses her magic to cause Raniero to pass out, and he is brought to Lord Korban's castle. There, Amaris discovers that Korban will not keep his promise and release Marin. He uses Amaris's fear for the child's life to blackmail Amaris into seducing a chained Raniero, so that Raniero will send the king a message attesting to Korban's loyalty, and thus delay the king's next attack on Korban.

Of course, Raniero's loyalty to the king is not easily swayed. Amaris does not want to seduce him, but she attempts to do so anyhow. Raniero blames Amaris for her role in his capture. Amaris also has the power free Raniero – if he drinks from her blood he will be able to break his chains. But she is afraid to take such a risk with her sister's life. Will these two trust each other enough to take on the evil Korban and his minions together?

This was my first experience of reading Angela Knight and I was not sure what to expect. While this novella had some detailed worldbuilding and interesting descriptions, it turned out to be problematic for me on several levels.

First, I think it's debatable whether or not the first sex scene was consensual, and while I'm not categorically opposed to all rape in romance (My favorite romance is Patricia Gaffney's To Have and to Hold), I do feel that if that if rape takes place, it should create problems between the hero and heroine. In this case, it's not entirely clear to me to what degree Amaris and Raniero were forced, but since he was chained and she was blackmailed into what happened there, it didn't ring true to me that the sex they were at least partially forced to have did not haunt them later on.

Second, even leaving aside the not-entirely-consensual sex, Amaris and Raniero both had major trust issues. Raniero had been betrayed by other Blood Roses, including his mother who tried to convince his father to kill him. Amaris had been betrayed by other vampires, including her evil father as well as a lover who raped her. Raniero was therefore inclined to distrust all Blood Roses, and Amaris all vampires. I'm not crazy about this type of prejudice but I think I could have gotten over that had I seen the characters gradually, slowly learning to trust one another. But instead these issues too were glossed over and the way the characters overcame their prejudices felt rushed and unconvincing.

Third, there was a lot of darkness in the setup. Raniero loses his men, including a teenaged boy, to the villains' attack. The life of Amaris's three year old sister is threatened more than once. There's loads of violence, and an insane villain whose quest for power would get thousands annihilated, to say nothing of the aforementioned traumas. Entertaining though it was to read about, it also felt like overkill to me — and I'm a fan of darker stories.

The novella did keep me turning the pages to see what would happen next, the writing was smooth and the last scene even gave me a heartwarming feeling, but ultimately, that was not enough. For those reasons, I give “Blood and Roses” a D+/C-.

“Whisper of Sin” by Nalini Singh

This novella, a prequel to the books in Singh's Psy/Changeling series, begins with a prologue in the form of an article in the San Francisco Gazette, which describes a crime wave in Chinatown rumored to be the work of a new organized crime family.

In chapter one, we are introduced to Ria, a 22 year old human woman who lives in Chinatown (her grandmother is Chinese) with her family. Ria has just been attacked and has fought off the attacker with her purse. Before the man could rape her, two changelings from the DarkRiver leopard pack, Dorian and Emmett, appeared and fought him off.

In the paramedic van, Emmett coaxes Ria into speaking and describing the assault. He is furious that a woman was attacked on his watch, and determined to “sniff out the nest this little viper came from.”

An attraction blooms between Ria and Emmett, and Emmett begins to feel protective of Ria almost immediately. Since she is still a target of the crime family, Ria must be protected constantly, and Emmett sees that as an opportunity to court her. But Ria's family members have other ideas. Ria is expected to marry Tom, the son of family friends.

I really liked “Whisper of Sin.” After two books focusing on humans and Psy, it was nice to read about the changeling characters again. I also enjoyed visiting the DarkRiver pack at a time before the events that begin with Slave to Sensation. The worldbuilding was compelling and clear to me as a follower of this series, but it's hard for me to judge whether or not someone who has not read the other Psy/Changeling books would be confused.

The main characters and most of the side characters are appealing. Ria is part of a loving family of strong minded people who think they know what is best for her, and she must learn to stand up to them. I really liked her and I also liked Emmett, who is sexy, strong and affectionate. Emmett knows very quickly that Ria is the one for him, but he has to learn to curb his overprotective tendencies.

The biggest obstacles to the happy ending are Tom and a misunderstanding on Ria's part – she believes that a changeling could not be interested in a long-term, serious relationship with a human. In that sense, the latter is not that suspenseful a conflict because it's evident that this is only a misapprehension that will be cleared up. Still, I was thoroughly entertained by both the romance and the changelings’ pursuit of the mobsters who wanted Ria dead, as well as charmed by the characters. B+ for “Whisper of Sin.”

“Shifting Sea” by Virginia Kantra

This story opens in Scotland in 1813. Major John “Jack” Harris, a survivor of the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, has recently come into the unexpected inheritance of Arden Hall and its lands. He is riding along the Scottish shore that is part of his property when he hears a woman singing. As he approaches the woman, he is struck by her beauty.

The woman, Morwenna, invites Jack into her cottage on the shore, and then into her bed, making it clear to him that she is freely choosing to please herself with his company. The sex is intense and unforgettable to Jack. To Morewenna, who is not what she appears to be, the experience is unsettling. Although Jack's first thought is that Morewenna must be a prostitute, he still invites her to Arden Hall. She refuses to come, but grants him permission to come to her cottage again.

Morwenna is in fact an elemental of the sea, one who can take the form of any of the ocean's creatures, as well as human form. She has decided to try to live on land for a while, although her twin brother disapproves.

The next day, Jack comes across Morwenna at the market, trying to purchase food with a pearl and then with a gold doubloon, when Jack's steward assumes she stole the old coin and accuses her of thievery. Jack comes to Morwenna's aid, which leads to a horseback ride together and then to another sexual encounter. Jack grows more and more fascinated with Morwenna, and Morwenna begins to return this interest. But will she sacrifice her immortality to be with Jack?

This was my first time reading something by Virginia Kantra and I was very impressed both with the author's writing style, as well as with her ability to marry the paranormal and historical elements. I felt that these two aspects blended seamlessly, so much so that I was reminded of Shana Abe's drakon series, where the paranormal and historical are also very well integrated.

There was a magical feel to the story which, along with the inventive use of the seashore setting, also put in mind of the selkie movie “The Secret of Roan Inish,” which I enjoyed many years ago.

My chief complaint with regard to “Shifting Sea” is that I felt that the romance was rushed, especially on Jack's part. He seemed to fall in love with Morwenna very, very quickly, before he really knew her– after a couple of bouts of sex but not much conversation. Morwenna's more gradual evolution toward love and commitment was executed better, though I would have liked to have seen the prospect of sacrificing immortality explored more.

The characters were absolutely delightful – Jack so clearly honorable and caring, and Morwenna independent and unashamed of her sexuality. Since the language and atmosphere were both appealing as well, I look forward to reading more of this author in the future. “Shifting Sea” gets a B+ too.

“Here There Be Monsters” by Meljean Brook (There may be some spoilers in the following review).

“Here There Be Monsters,” Meljean Brook's contribution to the anthology, is also the first story in her new steampunk series, the Iron Seas. This novella, which is a bit longer than the other three and will require a longer review, begins in London, and Ivy, the heroine, is running for her life.

Ivy was born during a time when the Horde (as best I can tell, this is a nation originating in Asia) had infected London's denizens with nanoagents (also called "bugs") that controlled them. Seven years before beginning of the story, Ivy and London's other residents were freed from enslavement when the control tower that signaled the nanoagents was destroyed.

But on the night the story opens, Ivy awoke to find herself unable to move, her body frozen by the nanoagents, while she and the people with whom she rooms were examined against their will. The rest were taken, presumably for enslavement, and Ivy was left behind, but now she's determined to hightail it out of London as soon as possible rather than wait around and become enslaved once more.

To that end, Ivy goes to an inn by the docks. She is searching for Mad Machen, a feared pirate. Ivy thinks Mad Machen might facilitate her escape in exchange for her labor. Ivy worked for a man known as the Blacksmith and as she says “can repair engines, prosthetics…or windups, if you have any automata.” It was in the Blacksmith's employ that Ivy met Mad Machen, who sat with his friend Barker while she worked on Barker's prosthetic leg. Ivy saw Mad Machen show his friend kindness and support, and now, that has given her hope that Mad Machen will help her.

But Mad Machen refuses to transport her, saying that his ship already has a blacksmith. It is at this point that Ivy offers her virginity instead, and when Mad Machen doesn't reply, the fierce expression on his face terrifies Ivy. She begins to back out, but Mad Machen insists that she'll sleep in his bed for the entire journey. Ivy asks him to promise not to hurt her, but Mad Machen merely says they will sail in the morning. Later, he promises to come after her if she runs away.

Mad Machen, or Eben as his friends know him, is furious at Ivy's desperation and at her fear of him. He would never rape her, and in fact had planned to return to the smithy to court her. But now he is faced with a bad situation – he must sail into very dangerous waters, and he doesn't want to put Ivy at risk. Leaving her in London, though, might mean never seeing her again, since she is so desperate to escape the city.

Before Eben can decide what to do, Ivy disappears. Lady Corsair, a female pirate who captains an airship, offers her transport, in exchange for a debt to be repaid later. Ivy jumps at this offer, and two years later, she is living in Fool's Cove, when Lady Corsair and Mad Machen reappear in her life.

Fool's Cove is nearly unreachable by ship, so Ivy thought she was safe from Mad Machen's pursuit there. But she knew he was still searching for her, because of some terrifying stories she'd heard about him. Now Lady Corsair insists that Ivy repay her debt to Mad Machen, and sleep in his bed in the time it takes them to reach Wales, where a work project is waiting for Ivy. Ivy isn't given much choice in the matter – Lady Corsair threatens to loose her aviators on Fool's Cove if Ivy refuses.

Bitterly, Ivy agrees and is taken to Mad Machen's ship. But once there, her fear turns to defiance. She does not know that Eben has a reputation to maintain, and cannot afford to have his crew and other sailors believe he has gone soft. Every time Ivy challenges his authority in public, Eben must come down hard, for to do otherwise would be to put his crew's lives at risk. In private, he accepts Ivy's coin in exchange for a promise not to touch her sexually. But Ivy has only eight coins, and the journey will last more than eight days. What will happen when her money runs out?

I've been waiting a long time to read this story, and it does not disappoint. One of the best things about "Here There Be Monsters" is the worldbuilding, which is intricate and complex, but for the most part, understandable and clear, too. The world of the story feels whole and complete, and it is a blend of historical setting details and contemporary and futuristic technologies. Some of the details are surprising, and all of them are woven together into a fascinating steampunk setting.

The writing made me feel that I was truly there, inhabiting that world. I found the story absorbing and difficult to put down, and Eben and Ivy were both endearing. Ivy had a lot of fear to overcome, but her background made it easy to understand why. Eben was both strong and caring, for all that he had to show the outside world his rough edges. The sexual tension was drawn out in a natural way. I never felt that the sex was being postponed to tease the reader, as I sometimes do with other books. Instead, the characters' choices felt natural and organic.

I have just a couple of quibbles – Ivy's terror of Eben turns into defiance a bit too abruptly, and there were a couple of times when I wasn't sure what something meant (for example I didn't understand who or what the Horde were until halfway through the novella, and I would have liked to know sooner). These things are minor enough though, that “Here There Be Monsters” gets an A- from me.

I'm the kind of reader who is willing to purchase an anthology for one great novella. In the case of Burning Up, three of the four stories delighted me. My overall grade for the anthology is a B.

Sincerely,

Janine Ballard

REVIEW: Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh

Shuzluva — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:00:15 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh,

Being human in the Psy/Changeling world you’ve created must suck. Humans are at the very bottom of the Darwinian food chain, with both the Psy and Changelings well ahead of them in terms of mental and physical development. Or so it would seem from a peripheral reading and understanding of the world you’ve created. To make a human appear both desirable and powerful within this construct, without changing or giving him or her some sort of secret edge, isn’t easy. In Bonds of Justice, you have accomplished it beautifully. I’ll make no bones about it: I totallywant Max Shannon.

Max is a human cop in heavily Psy-influenced Enforcement, which shouldn’t automatically preclude him from advancing; the Psy think of humans as weak and malleable and when they want cops to look the other way they simply plant a mental suggestion that a human cop do so. But Max has a natural strong mental shield (no, this is not crazily unusual in humans), preventing the higher-ranked Psy officers (or anyone, for that matter) from planting suggestions, making him overlook evidence, or anything a "crooked" cop would do. Max also happens to be a very smart guy and an excellent cop, and realizes that he couldn’t live with himself knowing that his morals had been compromised.

After successfully incarcerating a serial murderer, Max is introduced to Sophia Russo, a J-Psy that has been put on the case after other J-Psy failed at extracting the location of the murderer’s victims. The J, or Justice, Psy have the special ability to delve into a person’s mind, extract a memory and project them in full to another person, a courtroom, or a jury. Unfortunately, the J designation is known to "retire" (read: be turned into a vegetable by Psy rehabilitation) early in their careers as a result of their special ability. When Sophia meets Max, she knows she’s getting close to rehabilitation, and had decided that the moment she finds out that she’s to be rehabilitated, she’ll suicide before being turned into a shell of what she is. She’s aware of her deterioration, but refuses to give up or give in.

Max is immediately intrigued by the juxtaposition of Sophia’s strength and vulnerability even though he knows that the chances of seeing her again are slim at best. Then Max is called by Psy Councilor Nikita Duncan to investigate a string of suspicious murders. Nikita has used her influence to have Sophia put on the case as well. On the surface, having a human cop work a case for a member of the Psy Council seems like a weak plot turn, but rest assured that there is nothing weak about the plot in this book. Nor is there anything weak about Max and Sophia’s relationship. Neither of them shy away from their obvious attraction. Rather than beating about the proverbial bush, they ask for, and receive, each others’ trust. There is a lot going on in this book in terms of overall series plot; however, Max and Sophia’s interactions do not read like a secondary plot. They are riveting and I couldn’t get enough of them together. Max and Sophia were so hot together that before they even managed to have sex, I was sure the book was going to spontaneously combust in my hands.

I will mention it here, and I’ve said it in other reviews of the Psy/Changeling series: if you have not read the previous books in the series, you may be lost. The books are all interconnected, the characters reappear…and they don’t simply make Brandoesque cameos. Lucas and Sascha, the H/H of Slave to Sensation, have a major role in the book, as do Clay, Tally, Faith and Vaughn along with appearances from Dorian and yes, Kaleb Krycheck (who happens to be at the absolute top of my to do list amongst the Psy/Changeling cast). The books seem to be following a similar arc as many of the characters do, but on a much larger scale: what started out as background is becoming more interwoven into the stories,more important to the plot of each book, and each character that is introduced is playing a role. All of these elements came together with amazing synchronicity in Bonds of Justice. A.

~Shuzluva

This is a trade paperback published by Berkley and subject to Agency pricing. (I bought Bonds of Justice at $5.49 at Kobo Books. Not sure how/why they are discounting but yay?)

Monday Midday Links: Sony Drops eBook Reader Prices

Jane — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:38 +0000

Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh is available at Kobo Books for $5.49. I’m not sure how they are discounting it and no one else is but who am I to question a decent price for a much desired book?

*****

To celebrate the release of MOUSE AND DRAGON, their thirteenth Liaden Universe novel, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are holding a contest for readers and bloggers.

The contest is geared to attract readers who have yet to read a Liaden novel. They can enter for a chance to win an ebook edition of The Dragon Variation, an omnibus that includes the novels CONFLICT OF HONORS, LOCAL CUSTOM, and SCOUT'S PROGRESS. 36 winners will be picked.

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are the author team behind the classic and ever-popular Liaden Universe ®. This series of "adventurous romantic space opera" holds cross-over appeal for both romance and science fiction readers.

In celebration of the publication of Mouse and Dragon, the thirteenth novel set in their Liaden Universe ®, authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are holding an Expanding Universe Contest! Yes! No less than thirty-six electronic copies of The Dragon Variation will be given away.

The Dragon Variation is an omnibus edition of three Liaden Universe ® novels -’ Conflict of Honors, one of the first modern SFRomances; Local Custom, second place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002; and Scout's Progress, the first place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice for Best SF Novel of its year, and the prequel to Mouse and Dragon.

That’s three complete novels under one cover. No prior knowledge of the Liaden Universe ® required. Electronic! In Baen Books' DRM-free, multiplatform style. This omnibus can be read on your Kindle, your phone, your iPad, your desktop, or other ereader.

To enter the contest, visit Sharon Lee's blog and follow the instructions you see there (it's easy). Winners will be announced on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

*****

When many news sites are closing off access with pay walls and registration walls, Guardian UK is going the complete opposite direction. It has developed a wordpress plugin that will allow bloggers to embed searches and entire articles from the Guardian on their blog.

******

Sydney Morning Herald reviewed the BeBook Neo. The advantages of the Neo over the Kindle, say Adam Turner, is the built in wifi, a web browser and ability to download eBooks via the web. It also supports un encrypted MOBI and DRM protected ePub and PDF. The Neo also has tablet technology which allows you to take notes on the screen much like the Sony Touch.

The disadvantages is that it is double the cost of the Kindle and triple the cost of the Kobo and downloading ebooks from the web is cumbersome.

*******

Sony has dropped the prices of its devices in response to the BN and Kindle price drops. The Pocket is $150, the Touch is $170 and the Daily Edition is $300.

*******